A Nigerian Air Force Mi-24D Hind (aka Mi-25) attack helicopter showing a nose-mounted quad-barreled 12.7mm HMG
DAILY POST
25 July, 2014
In a determined effort to eliminate terrorism by routing insurgents from their hideouts in parts of the North East and North West once and for all, the Federal Government has placed purchase orders for 40 helicopters for attack and transportation from the United States and Russia, DailyPost can report.
Reliable security sources confided in PRNigeria that some of the helicopters will arrive the country as early as next month, while the remaining will be received certainly before the end of the year to boost the Nigerian Airforce.
Some military and other security forces are currently frustrated about their inability to storm the notorious Sambisa Forest where Boko Haram militants are keeping the abducted Chibok secondary school girls and also serving as operational headquarters of the
group.
The reason, according to PRNIgeria findings is that security operatives are not only aware of the locations of the girls but are also closely monitoring the way that the girls are being moved around, hence they are afraid of the backlash should any harm befall the girls in the course of a forced rescue.
Past cases of attempts to rescue British and Italian nationals in Sokoto and SETRACO workers which boomerang are the reasons that the security forces have been reluctant in storming the forest and rescuing the girls.
“Oh, I wish we could have a consensus of opinion from Nigerians that we should storm the forest and rescue the girls. The day Nigerians decide that enough is enough in one voice, to clear the forest will take less than one week,” a top security source bemoaned.
Already, security forces have succeeded in ridding Zamfara, Kaduna, Jigawa and part of Bauchi states of Fulani cattle rustlers. “These have been completely eliminated”, the source declared.
The officers gave the assurance that although, terrorism like any asymmetric wars have proven to be difficult to combat anywhere in the world, the Nigerian security forces would have found it easier to deal with, had there not been politicisation of the issue.
Nonetheless, it was gathered that Damboa will soon be rescued from terrorists who recently took over the town after killing scores of residents. A special unit of terrorism forces have just been trained
under an international agreement and are ready to be fully deployed to volatile and prone areas of terrorism activities.
“Let me tell you that some communities are peculiar in the war on terror as some of their residents supported Boko Haram in the ambush and attacks on our troops. In the past, they gathered at a square to cheer the insurgents whenever a military personnel was captured and was being murdered.Young ones in the town even play with severed heads of victims.
“That is why we always warn Nigerians to report activities of these devils because giving them support is like dining with the devil or simply riding on the back of the tiger as they now turn against them. That was why some soldiers were reluctant to lay down their lives in some communities where innocent troops who were out to protect them were being misled for ambush. The situation is changing now as community leaders and youths are supporting the military
offensives.” the source declared.
Book Haram: FG orders purchase of 40 Military, transport helicopters
Beegeagle's Blog 
Now, that is more like it. Sudan cannot be signing US$200m contracts for the delivery of 38 MiL attack and transport helics (including maintenance support and spares) while Nigeria, with eight times the earning power of Sudan, trudge along on exasperating deliveries of two attack helicopters in the middle of a raging armed conflict. Boggles the mind how low DEFSEC had fallen in our national priorities.
Nigeria are a giant and not a cretin. Enough of this odious business of buying attack helicopters in useless batches of twos and threes. Better not buy at all than telling Nigerians that we have combat assets which happen to come in hopeless trickles that will never make a dent in that expansive AOR. It is either we are buying or we are not. Enough of that self-defeatist gradualist approach.
The acquisition of MRAPs/APCs has to proceed by the hundreds and not in hapless dozens. We need Shaldag FPCs in batches of six and not in pairs. Time to put a stop to token gestures in DEFSEC procurement.
Good sense has finally prevailed..
I said it when we received those old, worn out trucks from the US that they were eyeing the billion dollar contract that the FG approved for procurement. Nigerians are inferior to getting useful, up to date equipment form the US, but our money is good enough to take. Pity we are buying anything from them at all! I suspect the bulk of the procurement money now would go to buying second hand, overpriced, helios that would not meet the needs of defeating Boko haram. We should take ALL our money to Russia, buy from them and partner with them on development, this would tell the yanks that we’re not monkeys!
Russia can supply us with all the capable fixed and rotatory wings birds that we need and they would do it with dignity and mutual respect. I am honestly not happy with the news of procurement from the US.
Reads more like what we’ve been shouting for on this blog!
Looking forward to more hardware acquisitions like this in multiple of tens rather than the previous charade of in pairs or 6 units.
Of course, I’ll still stick to my mantra of knowing how much was spent on these. No more waking up to previously unseen aircrafts with NAF roundels which we didn’t know how much, when or where they were bought from.
Nice!! From U.S? Certainly not Apaches…Can’t wait to find out specifics of assets acquired..
Can NEVER be Apaches.
Most probably the surplus transport helics. The attack helos will be Mi-24V/Mi-35P and Mi-35M all-weather attack helics. Mi-17 and Mi-171Sh Terminator assault helos too.
The most you can expect from America as far as combat helics are concerned would be armed scout helos…more like the AH-6 Little Bird, not even the Kiowa.
But I am surer of the fact that US-made transport helos will be coming.
AH 6 is not bad o. I doubt it is ready for export now anyway so the little rocket and hellfire blasting AH1 super cobras or Zipers are okay
These are likelier to come from the USA. Human rights issues and the loquacious neo-liberal lobby that is crammed full of wimps will not permit the useful partners to do more than that.
Dancing skelewu in joy, FINALLY time to start kicking Boko Ass rams
Oga Beeg, you don begin your conjecture again. How do you know for a certain we will not be getting the Apaches? Im sure if a week ago someone told you we might be buying 40 Helicopters you will declare it impossible and not feasible. The A-10s, the Apaches, and even Patriot Missile batteries can be sold to the Nigerian government if we do indeed request to buy some of these systems.These are hardly super secrete high tech machines like the F-35 and F-22 Raptor.
Wait for your Apache and A10 tankbusters. You wey nor dey tire for wishlist :-). If CONJECTURE means not waking you up from a pipe dream, feel free to hold fast onto that dream.
I am sure you were waiting for Oshkosh MRAPs and uparmored Hummers when you got Landcruisers and Navistar lorries the other day. Guy, wake up. There is a time to be a fan boy and a time to get real. You nor fit get uparmored Hummer, na Apache you dey wait for? E get as e be. Abeg tok anoda tin jare.
Are you for real? Patriot missiles which Turkey, a NATO country do not own is what you are now waiting for as well? Not so whipped and my feeling of national pride is not totally and inextricably tied to the ownership of US-made offensive systems. We can be a great power without those unlikely deliveries and I can live with the fact that they wont be coming our way.
There will be no apaches. Not in the given time frame.
Help me tell am. Everyday na fantasy list..
Definitely no Apaches. We are not the UK, Israel, S. Arabia or Netherlands to the US. Some humility helps please.
Congratulations to Nigeria for this long but much awaited acquisition! Correct me is I’m wrong, but the Federal Govt allocated $1 billion for arms acquisition, and if Nigeria acquires Apaches, even used ones, it will definitely finish off most of the $1 billion. My opinion is that the attack helos are probably Russian, maybe a mix of Mi-8 transport and Mi-35 gunships. Used Sea Knights can also be possible, but it would definitely be more practical to go Russian this time. Logistics and training wise, it would just be pain in the ass to add another helicopter type when you already have all the necessary experience and knowledge in operating MiLs.
Finally our govt hs decided to wake up from its slumber but on the other hand we r buyin equipment frm d west after d sepecat jaguar debacle we had with britain? Remember d gay lobby is quite powerful in d u s and they mite decide to wield some of d influence they hv in d congress in other to frustrate d supply of spare parts and other things
Yeah, we are getting some Yankee choppers. Reason why I believe that those would be surplus transport airframes for medevac and SF insertion. Do not forget the 143 Rangers Bn being trained by the USA. They would be needing those helos if they hope to make a dent in this war by the time that they get deployed to the theatre. If confirmed, the said US transport helics will be coming to us almost FOC.
If the lobbyists manage to cut off the supply of spares for those, Nigeria shall lose nothing. We will probably just leave them on the tarmac and seek highly affordable yet even more rugged Mi-17s as replacements.
Nice.
But based on the stated time frame, the number “40” must be an aggregation of all prior orders.
If deliveries are starting next month (August,) then these must include the 19 that beegs mentioned.
That is what it appears to be. That was why the Mi-35M and Mi-171Sh Terminator were listed under what I expect to see. We could get anywhere between six and twelve of the CH-46, if you ask me.
As it is, the Russians are declaring about 200 Mi-24V and Mi-35P surplus to requirement. Many of those were modernised in the recent past, even as the Russians now seek to concentrate squarely on all-weather Mi-28, Mi-35M and Mi-171Sh Terminator attack and assault helicopters.
So there is a choice of stern Hind helicopter options for the NAF to cream off Russia at this time.
Oga beegs, don’t you think all of our helicopters should have night fighting capability?
Yes, they should. We should be able to field them at anytime. I did introduce the Super Hind on this board some months ago. It is a South African firm which does the modernisation on Mi-24s and it includes night vision capability. They have been upgrading HIND helics for Algeria and they also have a similar upgrade package for Mi-17s which brings them close to the capability of the Mi-171Sh Terminator
Our experience in the Philippines in fighting terrorists required the use of night capable helicopters to support troops with night fighting capability. This is a very important capability since most terrorists do not have this capability. Strike them using when they’re weak for maximum effect! Now almost all combat utility, attack helicopters, and turboprop strike aircraft in service are night capable, when just a few years ago we don’t have this capability. We even developed our own night fighting rifles based on the M16.
Max
Good news, so is this likely to be a combined order for the airforce and navy (seaprite and sea knights) or just the air force alone?
More like whats on my own mind too. I guess the Sea Knight and Seasprite are for transport and the attack choppers might just be limited to familiar Mi-24v,Mi-35p and Mi-35m. This looks more achievable given the time frame and the fact that the naval airwings have already shown its interest in that direction.
I would not know but a mix of twelve units of both types will not be far-fetched. The USA are cosy with the SBS commandos and the 143 Bn. One of the helos is good for SF insertion and medevac and the other for maritime and shipborne operations.
But the Sea Knight, being able to ferry SBS commandos and Army Rangers, looks likelier to be the predominant type. The Sea Sprite shall come because US-derived big ships such as NNS Thunder and NNS Okpabana will be needing those. Dunno if they will be torpedo-armed though.
Imagine what a complementary squadron of ALX Super Tucano COIN aircraft would do for our overall counterinsurgency array. Interesting times lie ahead o.
GEJ hand don dey show for DEFSEC procurement. May God guide him to do even better for this critical facet of our national life. Better late than never..
Yessir !! better late than never.
Oga president, it’s not too late to vie for the title of Nigeria’s best president.
Sir, your actions would speak louder than any words.
Well, lets not get ahead of ourselves here….lol.
Oga Are James,
Based on his predecessors, it’s a very low bar to scale.(LOL)
Nigerians are not hard to please. If he follows thru on his promises, and does what is necessary to improve security, and our standing in the world militarily and otherwise, he wouldn’t have to rig the next election
If this man restores our previous defence, security and geo political standing on the continent and we become like the IRAN of Africa (without the belligerence and dangerous toying with atoms of course), then he has tenth term if he wants it.
ANOTHER REASON WHY I BELIEVE THE HH-46 SEA KNIGHT HELICS WILL DOMINATE THE U.S DELIVERY OF HELICOPTERS: (remember what I said earlier on about the Nigerian Navy SBS commandos and the 143 Rangers Bn being cosy with the US military)
EXCERPTS…
Marine CH-46Es and CH-53Es carried U.S. Army Rangers and Special Operations troops in a mission to extract captured Army Private Jessica Lynch from an Iraqi hospital on 1 April 2003.
END
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_Vertol_CH-46_Sea_Knight
Finally, congrats to us all on beegeagle’s blog.
Wohoo !!
That’s what am tambout.
Vertical envelopment, heliborne assaults, Spec ops insertions, hunter-killer hind wolf packs.
#Game Changer.
I wish you guys are wrong in your analysis, and the 40 helics, is in addition to the expected 19.
That means we will be talking the influx of 60 attack, transport and recon helicopters.
I am still too angry to be impressed. All this is coming after so many civilian lives have been lost, so many girls raped, the President of the greatest black country insulted daily the world over, the entire 100year old army almost destroyed by mutiny. So we are now saying only the human lives lost and girls raped could have justified these rush procurement… and why so close to the elections. Business mentality in government is going to wreck this country. Anyway we are still going to hold all our generals to account for mismanaging defence funds. You guys can continue praising all you can but I do not wish these state of affairs for my enemies’ children.
🙂 Leave all those things ee…all na demo. I sure say you dey smile for dia.
He sweet my belle small sha….
From now on it should be enough money annually for maintenance and training, training …and more training.
There is indeed a blue moon over Nigeria. Things are starting to look up for the long-deprived DEFSEC forces. Let the procurement proceed in double quick time.
May I suggest the crash recruitment and mass basic training of fresh aeronautical engineers and technicians now as more advanced training is arranged with aerospace manufacturers for the more experienced in-service personnel. We are also like to see Textron establish maintenance depots in Nigeria soon.
@Are James. Yes o, time to fully kickstart the MiL helicopter maintenance facility in conjunction with BVST of Belarus. At this rate, we could be counting 40+ units of Mi-17/Mi-24V/Mi-35P/Mi-171Sh Terminator/Mi-35M by the end of Q1 2015. We must NEVER return to the old way of doing things.
Meanwhile, I look forward to the icing on the cake – eight refurbished Su-30s direct from Russia and 18 new JF17 Thunder to mark the full and final arrival of the NAF. It can be done. Hark back to 1973-74, General Gowon’s FMG signed a deal for the delivery of 31 brand-new MiG 21 jets. It has been done before and GEJ can do it again. A man does a man’s thing.
Shehu Shagari led a democratic govt which placed orders for three C130-H30 and five G222 heavy and medium lift planes, eighteen Jaguar jets, twelve Alpha Jet and twelve Aermacchi MB339…all brand-new.
Na man dey do man tin. Let’s keep it going, GEJ. No let up, no retreat, no surrender. We shall overcome.
Not forgetting venerable Kfir Block 60…LOL
Sorry, I had to throw that in just to wind up some people up this morning.
Are James says:
Not forgetting venerable Kfir Block 60…LOL
Sorry, I had to throw that in just to wind up some people up this morning.
REPLY…
If dem catch you for dis blog eh ! That topic you dey raise flag na hot pepper soup o ! Guys go commot one leg of your shoe and ask you to trek back home like dat.
hehehehe….na real sore point that sits on a raw nerve.
But the NN sure can use many more Shaldag FPCs for estuarine area control, as lead strike assets in FOBs and for coastal-midshore counterpiracy operations while we proceed with the delivery of deep offshore assets such as the P18N/Type 056 stealth OPVs and corvettes.
For vessels that size, the seakeeping of Shaldag FPCs far exceeds what one would normally expect of them in turbulent waters. Let us up the ante and reach for six units in the next haul. My vision for the twelve planned or active FOBs is that each has a 32-38 metre patrol craft as leadship, a Shaldag FPC as lead strike asset and two Manta ASD Littoral Interceptors in their array.
The 58m FACs, corvettes, OPVs, Hamilton-class ships and frigates should be homeported at the fleet command HQs and at the major bases in PHC and Warri.
Well, we dared to dream and the dreams are coming alive…
Oga Beegeagle, seems NNS Zaria and Burutu Sea Eagle class 38m boats have not been too fantastic in performance for several years now, no praises of their performance. What went wrong? Asian media published around 2011 that Nigerian navy wanted to build locally at home with technology transfer, about 8 more units of the Sea Eagle but was cancelled….performance? The stealth capability and the hull-structure itself may not be that great. I don’t like the low hull and the high tower.
How do we re-equip for mid-shore patrol and warfare today? Shaldag is in-shore, P18N is off-shore, in the days of Shagari, Nigerian navy had NNS Ekpe, NNS Agu, and NNS Damisa our 3 units of brand new 58m fast crafts all armed with the mighty Otomat anti-ship missiles.
The 38 metre stealth OPCs were designed in Germany. The construction contract was awarded to the Suncraft Group of Singapore while the actual shipbuilding took place at the facilities of NAUTICA NOVA in Malaysia.
They are good vessels and have been in service continually since April 2009 when they were commissioned. The have been involved in many counterpiracy operations.
The excellent seakeeping of the Shaldag FPC, though smaller than the Sea Eagle OPC, makes it a great complement. More importantly, the speed of the nimble Shaldag has made it a hot favorite for maritime security operations where the hi-speed 17m Manta ASD Littoral Interceptors cannot be deployed.
One possible reason why the serial production of the Sea Eagle Mk.II OPCs was suspended could be the foray into shipbuilding by the NN. We have a Made-in-Nigeria 31m patrol craft at sea while the same NN architects and engineers are right now constructing a 38 metre craft. These events possibly overtook the planned domestic production of the 38m Sea Eagle OPCs.
I find it interesting that Damboa is still under BH control.
For a well defined target like a town, it should be fairly easy to inch forward towards the town and destroy any points of resistance with artillery fire.
A lot has been said about the two failed attempts to retake the town, but based on the reported area of one of the ambushes, it appears that BH sacked the FOB outside the town and then pushed forward to villages that were between Damboa and Maiduguri. Apparently that’s were the NA was ambushed. They were still in a motorized column driving towards Damboa and not expecting BH for several more kilometers.
Still, who decides that the NA should “take it easy” when it comes to recovering the town? If the word is given, artillery can do the job.
Taking this town does not require all this wahala and none of ‘the platforms’ being bought now. This is a job for some smart major reading through his old notebooks from military school, the right weapon mix and committed troops.
Correct
Yeah Chief, they need to implement Odi to the 3rd power.
Shell the hell out of that town, and lay ambushes for the escaping stragglers.
I hope all the villagers have fled the town.
We need some Bofor guns and some Palmarias, handy in the NE.
1) To blast BH if and when they choose to stand and fight.
2) To target Cameroonian BH bases within artillery range.
Confirmed riots and military action in ZARIA fatalities reported. Any further details?.
Oga are its that iranian stooge el zakzakaay and his followers creating problems but they will be taken of.
Bloody Shiites but DSS has them on close watch I guess.
His son is numbered among the fallen. I just hope this does not lead to another big cancer
Beegs bloggers for now have to stop commenting ur blog is being watched got in trouble at work here but will only read from sidelines.Yes Beegs ur blog is big and monitored I hope to b out soon and will b home peace to u all and peace to our fatherland FRN,but on d last note d bird wey fall last time for vorno Na arrow dem carry bring am down Man pad man.100% con peace
All these ur James Bond moves, i tire o!
Who dash dem MANPAD for crissakes?. Are we to believe this also?
Bigbenjy, how did your superiors at work know you post comments on this blog? Dou you have a sole worldwide right to the nik “bigbenjy”? Did you say that you hope to be out soon and be home soon? Are you kidnapped or what? We all know that this blog is being not just watched but followed internationally as a source of information and analysis on defence matters in Nigeria. Thanks for your concern for us, but we have been posting comments here for years and can take care of ourselves.
@Oga bigbenjy, if the helo was brought down by a manpad, there wouldn’t have been 2 crew members walking away.
I would need more info to believe that.
The US acquisitions just might surprise us; I say that because the war hawks (Republicans) in Washington might feel there is a need to send a message to Shekua or what ever that dolt’s name is that sending a threat to the US is a no no. Moreover with the growing investment opportunity in Nigeria, Uncle Sam might want to use defense procurements as a bargaining chip to conner the market potential in Naija………
“…Uncle Sam might want to use defense procurements as a bargaining chip to conner the market potential …”
That’s just it. We don’t want to be cornered – we are free men, and women.
And by the way military experts discuss Damboa and Mambisa, the word “Surge” was used several times. Last time I mentioned The plenty soldiers in Lagos and Ibadan sitting around and doing nothing some one on this blog almost burst a vein.
I am with you on this oga ugobassey, some people here argued with me that Nigerian army does not have 12 divisions because not all soldiers are combatants and because a division is 15,000 to 20,000 men according to their own ‘invention of army orbat’.
I keep my point, a division starts from 10,000 soldiers and varies from army to army. All men among those so called non-combatant soldiers eating fat and getting salary every month while Nigeria is at war and short of manpower should carry AK-47 and fight before civilian people like me will be conscripted by an act of parliament to the battlefield….and I will go, just need one flight ticket. Augustine is ready to fight and die when this national humiliation becomes unbearable.
Me too. Well said my bros.
40 ke ! wow O GA ( THAT ONE IS BIG) I am in shock when OGA TOPE reported it earlier on I did not believe it SMDH.
Phew we keep hearing every politician and brass hat telling us this and telling us that like some barry white song.
OGA BEEGS if uncle sam gives us the CH-46, the sea sprite . I would be very happy because it would demonstrate a real commitment to helping our soldiers get inserted and medvaced when they are injured they get to receive treatment during what is referred to as the GOLDEN HOUR The hour between being injured and staying alive or being kia.
This is wonderful news. I do not want to sound callous about DAMBOA oga are james, CARE MUST BE TAKEN not just to retake the town but to kill / eliminate/ capture anything that has to do with boko haram.
OGA ARE JAMES
ISRAEL is facing its biggest with the amount of Civilians being killed and there are mounting demonstrations both for and against Israel in the cities of its most trusted allies U.S.. and GERMANY. Nigeria should be careful of civilian casualties in these towns.
I want damboa to be firmly in the hands of the NA nor do I want a repeat . On this I agree with oga augustine it needs to become like CAMP 5 a solid fortified built up town with three battalions @ ( 750-1000MEN/ BATT) straddling and in control of the following areas:
ONE @ BIU , ONE @ DAMBOA AND THE OTHER @ CHIBOK. a roving SF battalion between BAGA AND BAMA should make like extremely unpleasant for any troublemakers.
Meanwhile, no more upset footing with troop welfare and money answereth ….well you guys no drill.
http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/army-pays-operational-allowances-upfront-treats-six-war-casualties-abroad/184567/
Let every nation know, whether it wishes
us well or ill, that we shall pay any price,
bear any burden, meet any hardship,
support any friend, oppose any foe, to
assure the survival and success of liberty.” coz WE ARE NIGERIANS….
well said sir, very well said
This is the way to go, well done. Let’s hope for many more aquisitions.
Doesn’t it feel better when we kind of know what is expected rather than the impression nothing is being done and budgets being frittered away?
y is that we don’t learn.pls a beg we don’t need any western hardware cos dear can not b trusted. cos apart from ibb d western nations also played in d death of NAF.does were get ear make dem hear
Heads up Guys! IHS team Aerospace, Defence and Maritime Unit visited the Army Intel Unit, Navy , Police recently and made a presentation, hoping one of their guys can share.
Meanwhile 40 helos is small we want 100 for starters, 19 helos ordered in 2012/2013 plus 6 ordered in 2014 makes it 25 units, means only 15 additional helos were ordered probably from US stock, we need Fresh 60 more units for Naval n Army SF and Regular aviation.
Not so, bro. Tis NINETEEN units in total for 2013 and 2014.
2013 haul
* Four Mi-17
* Six Mi-171Sh
(confirmed from a Russian online document post here by Are James)
* three Mi-35P
(documented by SIPRI)
2014
Six Mi-35M attack helics.
So if this figure of 40 helics includes the nineteen units already being awaited, it means that they signed contracts for 21 more helicopters…not fifteen.
If we can get sixteen small Eurocopter armed scout helics for US$40m and twelve ALX Super Tucano, our COIN array would be complete. That is enough for combat helics and turboprops.
We have yawning gaps in our multirole, deep strike and air superiority asset base. Let us attend to that too, so we have a fully multifunctional NAF.
Oga Tope, I beg to differ. 40 Helicopters is a good number. 100 helicopters is impractical. We (our government) would not do that.
Hopefully we got at-least 12 A-29 super-tucanos also. We badly need these assets.
Oga beeg.. abeg your email .. got some important info I received from back channel I want to share.. (might be too classified for the open web)
beegeaglesblog@ovi.com
hmmnnn. *reaching for bp meds*
Beegeagle was wight yet again.
Its going to be H-46 and Kaman H-2 helicopters
http://helihub.com/2014/03/21/nigeria-considers-purchase-of-h-46-and-h-2-helicopters/
Now that we are receiving H-46 and Kaman H-2 from the Americans. wonder what we will be getting from Russia…
This new helicopter haul, is in my opinion, part of the pressure from this blog’s tireless publications by national patriot Oga Beegeagle with the support of his ‘bloggers battalion’…This blog is being read regularly by the high and mighty decision makers of Nigeria’s top political and military leadership.
This blog made it clear that from Iraqi example, it is possible to order and receive second hand combat aircraft in less than one month.
Expect Su-30 Flanker jets or JF-17 Thunder jets, or Kfri Block 60 jets to join NAF latest 2015.
Expect the already expected Super Tucano COIN war master aircraft to join NAF 2014.
Expect Automatic Multiple Grenade launchers with over 1km range to join NA 2014.
If we have foresight to smartly buy plenty plenty Russian/Chinese versions of Gatling gun super fire-power multi-barrel machine guns with 1km range, we could ask Russians/Chinese to configure and mount them on the new transport helicopters from USA as protection for troops carried, while DICON mounts the Gatling guns on APCs and up-armoured Toyota 4×4 Landcruisers
This blog screamed and shouted about NAF failure to appear in battle when needed and the damage in combat setbacks that plunged Nigerian army into heavy death toll among our soldiers and mass murder of our civilians under firepower of Boko Haram.
The shouting has been heard in Abuja.
Oga Beegeagle for MON national honour, Oga Beegeagle for special technical adviser on Defense to President GEJ….call this man mister president, give him a job to help you reform and transform Nigerian military capacity, he will tell you the whole truth that some military top brass will not tell you for their personal reasons, they like to see you ‘less informed and more dependent’ on them.
President Jonathan, employ time-tested national patriot Oga Beegeagle into full time work under your presidency as special technical adviser on Defense. God bless your excellency.
MON Yes. Consultant to MOD, Maybe. SSA/STA to Minister, No.
http://odili.net/news/source/2014/jul/25/305.html
oga are james it seems that one of your prayers is about to be answered.
ATTENTION army corps of engineers there is a need for your services, There is a need for you guys to become active. There are a couple of bridges that need to be crudely repaired between South Bornu and North Bornu
OGA AUGUSTINE
YOU ARE RIGHT Chibok, BAMA and Damboa need to be come fortified operating battalions NOT FOBS. There is also a need for A SPECIAL forces battalion to be roaming between these three axis of gravity towns ( to coin a phrase used by BRIG ISAMA rtd) and also to a lesser extent to take care of BIU no amount of money spent on border patrol can take care of this ask the us who cant even stop children coming in. What can stop cells multiplying is denying them the opportunity and ensuring certain death awaits them if they step foot in one of these towns no virgins just ONE IN THE HEAD AND TWO IN THE CHEST.
Finally, someone is listening to Sir Beegs…AGLs are now on the scene on the frontlines..Not sure if its the Milkor MK1.
http://www.nairaland.com/1801690/photos-nigerian-armys-campaign-north/37
**** Breaking news.
Nigerian S.F now issued with AGL.Finally people are listening.
Wonderful news. Years of bloggers screaming to MOD/Army to increase fire power of troops beyond mere AKs and a few GPMGs has started bearing fruit. Since we are in this new money spending mood, they could start thinking about mounting a couple of ZSU 23 cannons on those land cruisers, and overhauling all our shilkas.
its an MGL. the revolver style grenade launcher is classified as a multi grenade launcher. its the MG type that is the AGL.
Good news all the same. since they now have the sense to procure the MGL, they will equally do same acquisition for the AGL
Milkor is manual.
Generally this notion that grenade launchers are new to NA inventory should be dispelled strongly. They were not fielded in enough numbers we accept, but at all at all?…..na lie.
Similar launchers have been seen with the police (likely tear gas launchers) but not with the NA.
That is good to know, Henro. We shall get it right and turn the tables on the BH knuckleheads. The tango has just begun. Dem go hear am.
Indeed, the 2008-9 order placed with Suncraft of Singapore for two 38m patrol craft+215 river gunboats/landing craft/littoral interceptors coincided with another jumbo order for CIS-50 12.7mm HMGs and 40mm AGLs placed with Singapore Technologies Kinetics. This was at the height of the Gunboat War in the Niger Delta.
Whereas the NA Amphibious Forces got a cascade of those 12.7mm HMGs….with some gunboats carrying as many of three HMGs on board, the NN got these same HMGs and the 40mm AGLs. These AGLs chiefly got aft-mounted on RBS Defender boats and Modant Marine boats in combination with fore-mounted HMGs. On the other hand, the dozens of Chinese-built river gunboats of the NA came with DShK 12.7mm HMGs mounted fore and aft. On land, NA Landcruiser gun trucks typically field either CIS-50 HMGs or Browning M2 HMGs.
By a country mile however, the most widely deployed HMG is the CIS-50 12.7mm HMG. That applies to the NA and NN alike. You will find them as primary weapons on Manta ASD littoral interceptors, RBS Defender boats and Modant Marine MM90E boats. They are deployed as secondary weapons on the Shaldags, OCEA craft, Cat class multipurpose ships, Sea Eagle OPCs, NNS Andoni, Brooke Marine and Lurssen 31-33m patrol craft and even on the NNS Thunder.
Personally, I have never seen any NA Amphibious Forces boats carry AGLs so the welcome development of having them on land platforms in the SoE areas of the Northeast is bound to have morale-boosting effect on those blessed fighting men.
That’s a manual, semi-automatic Grenade launcher.
It is not the Milkor.
It is not the MM-1 by hawk engineering.
It is not the M32 MGL.
It looks slightly crudely made, is this manufactured in Nigeria or china?
The mechanism for MGL is fairly simple.
@Are James, MGLs have always been fielded by the military, but it has been only in service with the navy. The Navy fields MGLs and S.K 50 Cals together, complete “badass siamese twins”.
The army has never fielded both the MGL or the AGL, judging from what I have seen. It was rather unusual because one would think the army should be at the forefront of innovation and transition, while the other services follow. However in our case the reverse is the reality.
It is gratifying to see the army get quality upgrades. The thing is, the army never fielded them…… Na true.
Thank God somebody is finally listening to our calls on this blog. 40 attack and transport helicopters,that is a good start by the FG of Nigeria. But then, why is the US also involved in the supply of the choppers? Hmmm…let us keep our fingers cross!
Fellow Cyber Generals,I believe the NAF are over-using their G222 transport planes in their inventory,that aircraft is not the venerable C-130 Hercules,you all need to watch and hear her as her engines groan as she tries to gain altitude. PLEASE we need new medium-and heavy transport planes. REMEMBER 1992.
Goodluck to our fly boys and all other NAF personnel.
Good info on the G222. The inventory of the NAF is littered with myriad transport assets like the Skyservants, DO 128s, and DO 228s aircraft. Over 30 choppers without even a single machine gun mounted. Added to that there is one (or is it two) fairly used Boeing planes for transporting troops that were also acquired recently. Do you not think that we should be careful that we don’t dilute the focus of this new weapons acquisition money on transportation aircraft?.
We need to service an aggressive rotation roster for troops in the NE yes …..but we still need to buy the bang bang stuff. What do you think?
Today has been a day of days. I love the arguments on this blog about the AGL OR THE MGL till we saw this this picture we did not have any concrete proof of the ARMY in possession i.e. hard evidence. This is a game changer. The army needs more of these and some most def need to be mounted (just like the navy has done) on some of the apcs currently serving in the NE
It also appears that our ogas on top have finally decided that WE COULD USE THE SCORPION LIGHT TANKS in the swampy areas of LAKE Chad.Kudos for that.
I am very proud of this blog and all the ogas who have contributed immensely to the well being, however we cannot rejoice til the last battle is won and this terrible war is over. The army as a matter of routine needs to fast track the supply of these AGLs / MGLs to the battle field ASAP because these are game changers.
On a more refreshing we are beginning to see that weapons are being purchased and for that we are compelled in the interest of fairness and integrity to give the ADMINISTRATION of GEJ credit where credit is due however there is still a lot to be done but for now ……….. looking good ………feeling good 🙂
*note*
Well done F.G. about time too.
Kudos to the bigwigs for aggressively pursuing a masterful procurement strategy of weapons and munitions to establish a credible COIN capability for the NA and NAF. However, the NAF is in desperate need of additional and substantial procurement to fix other glaring gaps in its strategic readiness. The federal government should open up its purse strings to spend whatever funds are necessary to address these glaring needs.
1.) First step – plug the NAF’s glaring gap in air defense (by installing nationwide missile defense system). The situation in the Ukraine should reinforce the need for an integrated nationwide air defense system incorporating mobile units of radar controlled ground to air missile batteries. Must we wait until a dispute breaks out and we are humiliated by our capital, largest cities and military bases being bombed with impunity without the NAF and NA having the ability to shoot down enemy aircraft or missiles !!!
2. Address decisively, the NAF’s glaring gap in air superiority aircraft by purchasing a fleet of air superiority aircraft for strike missions and air and air combat. For Goodness sake, even Chad has Mig 29’s currently being operated by its air-force. We need air superiority platforms that can fight their way deep into enemy territory (air to air combat), deliver a devastating payload of bombs (air to ground) and fight their way back home if necessary. A fleet of such aircraft is an effective deterrent to other countries on the continent and foreign powers on the continent from messing with us or pressuring us to do their bidding.
For air superiority aircraft, I suggest Su-35 instead of Su-30; although Su35 is more expensive it is clearly the superior aircraft – on all combat related metrics and most importantly Su-35 needs one pilot to operate as opposed to two pilots for the Su-30. The Su-35 is clearly better and overall the less expensive aircraft because finding and training competent combat pilots is the most expensive and difficult metric in the air power game. However, given its cost, it would make sense to acquire a mix of Su-35 and Su-27 (both single seaters and essentially the same plane only that Su-35 is the modernized version). I would suggest a 1:2 ratio for every Su-35 you acquire two Su-27. Forget the JF-17 it is designed to be a light defensive fighter and is not designed for deep strike missions with air to air combat capability like the SU-27 and SU-35.
3. The NAF should invest in air simulators for all the combat aircraft it is currently acquiring and/or planning to acquire going forward. These aircraft are extremely expensive national assets to acquire and maintain and it does not make sense to constantly read about air crashers while pilots are on routine training missions learning how to operate the aircraft. This is why you have simulators!! You do the bulk of your pilot training and make the mistakes on the simulators and thereby reduce significantly the number of actual air crashes and air fatalities.
Finally we are starting to get things right. Am I the only one that thinks these recent internal conflicts have been a ‘blessing’ in disguise for the armed forces of the Nigerian Republic? (with due respect to the precious lives lost)
The ND war gave birth to a brown water navy, some of the finest amphibious spec forces on the continent and now the BH conflict is bringing about an army airwing and a potent COIN orbat for the airforce alot more unseen changes.
Gentle men, if you think this haul of rotary wing airframes is a cold day in hell, think again.
Brace yourselves generals for hell is about to freeze over. Our finest hour is yet to come.
Got it via nairaland.The assessment team
http://helihub.com/2014/03/21/nigeria-considers-purchase-of-h-46-and-h-2-helicopters/
freeegulf says:
its an MGL. the revolver style grenade launcher is classified as a multi grenade launcher. its the MG type that is the AGL.
Good news all the same. since they now have the sense to procure the MGL.
REPLY
My brother, both are AGL, both are automatic, the revolver type is semi-aotumatic while the machine gun type is fully-automatic. Each time you fire the revolver type, it automatically reloads by ‘auto cocking the hammer’ and that is why it is called ‘double action’.
I say big amen to your prayer for the bigger 1km+ range machine gun type fully-automatic multiple grenade launcher….I believe it is coming this year 2014. Our blog’s Alariwos have made noise enough to reach Abuja for answer.
Even if na made in Singapore, we go happy, plenty Bokos go die…
Click to access fong.pdf
yea i know that admiral augustine. however, for the sake of classification it is easier to identify them properly as ‘AGL’ (belt fed) and MGL (revolver type). AGL as the crew serve direct support weapon, and MGL as the hand held individual weapon.
its all good news. we all have been clamouring for this firepower increment for both the individual warrior and the platoon. and you have been requesting for hardware capable of engaging the terrs over 1.5 km away. your prayers are getting answered admiral.
These MGL/AGL things are useful when say about 3 or 4 BokoHomos are charging a column of MRAPs and APCs ignoring all the bullets already puncturing their bodies. Very scary stuff. You want to quickly send them up ‘there’ before they get within 50 meters of your column.
In other news, Israel has put up the Merkava for sale…the KDF is rumoured to have visited Israel for live firing tests.
Singapore is a country reportedly buying Merkavas, but no confirmation from both sides.
Hailing oh the Great Beegeagle, Hailing oh, my people,
I have bin an avid follower/reader of your Blog for a while,
I appreciate the ego, i appreciate the effort,
I appreciate your tenacity, and all of your expressly grand opinions.
We must never take for granted or fail to appreciate when due.
We shall overcome. i mean, we humans,
humans on the side of moral justice, humans on the side of reason.
Please, need to find out from you guys, if you dont mind,
heard you talking about the Auto Grenade launchers,
happy to see more firepower any day. Whatever the make,
any word on dicon production? i know they produce light arms,
AGL na light na abi… hehe….. Pls tell me production is 100percent local tho,
dont see why not.
Yes and then, about the 40 or so Mils, honestly want to ask you guys,
and please would love a response, why havnt i heard about frames been
built locally? thats attack helicopters, transport helicopters, and the likes..
i personally think steadfastness on that side would almost begin to
dot the i’s and cross the t’s as regards to local capacity We already make
defense boats, Igirigi’s and so forth, next step na hellicopters na… abi??
how una see am…. then electronics..?
please would love a comment on Turkey’s Atak helicopter and China’s Z10 as well
honestly beleive we can clone those jare… or?? wetin una tink
i know we refurbish these crafts here
do you think fear of lawsuits are preventing our gallant humans from proceeding with the needful??
yes yes, and then, wanna ask sumtin too about this supposed Cameroon issue,
please, what do you think will be the outcome of a confrontation with this neighbors .
do you think Nigeria wants this? even considering the recent commitments by said country
do you think Nigeria is been targeted by an overextended army hence
Nigeria, should embark on an overseas adventure as well, albeit extended?
Considering the Russo – Ukraine palava, do you think the same thing seems to be
playing out there as well? meaning, do you think forces are trying to catalyze serious
confrontation between these neighbors so as to drain and shame said neighbors???
possibly then intervene??
sorry ohh, im a bit too excited.. my first post on Beegeagle… Omo…
any initiation dey???? lolo
Nice development. Please FG there is still a lot to be done. Now we need to remember the promised jets as well.
http://rostec.ru/en/news/2838
pls oga beegs for the past 6 days i have written comment after comment spending as much as one hr preparing it only for it to disappear whenever i post what is wrong oh
That is a challenge which probably has to do with page expiration at your end during the time it took for you to type the comment. Perhaps you should copy whatever you write, so that if it disappears, you only have to refresh the thread, paste and then, post the comment.
Yep. Writing a comment for 1 hour is sure to expire the session.
I just wrote a short comment, just now, I did not waste any time on it, and it got “lost to the wind”.
I don’t think the problem only has to do with the length of the post or how long a person spends writing it.
Oga henry the best thing is go back and forth by saving it to a word document and saving it there.it. happened to me on my letter.
UNVERIFIED COMMENT ON THE BLOG WALL
Major Shay Tal
“What is coming to the Nigerian Air Force are the Cobra Helicopters (about 20 of them) from Israel after 35 years in service, and yes, they are made in the USA. The contract has been awarded to Chief(Prince) Arthur Eze.
Elbit Systems of Israel is to upgrade the night capabilities. There’s no need to mention the contract sum, but the selling price of the Israeli Government was about $2.5 mil apiece. Good deal for my country Israel, wonderful deal for Prince Arthur Eze, very bad deal for Nigeria.
We will talk after the Cobras crash one after the other. See you all soon.”
Oga Beeg. Pls dis is d worst news so far after 35 yrs. Haba Presido, we rich pass dis now
What!, Jesus Christ!, Arthur Eze of all people! What are these guys in MOD doing? I hope this isn’t true. I had earlier said I was anxious about the so called 30 helicopters from the US. Now my fears have been made real. Oh my! Again, I honestly hope this is a rumour.
Oga Beeg, there is one I will send to you. You may have seen it before but it is mind boggling. I’m not sure what to make of it: It goes into insider details on some defence contract deals. it goes into involving boats for the NA, the 6 boats which they told us were being refurbished in Holland and a couple of other things. If its true then, I don’t know what to say.
I suggest you send incognito. Pls copy @Igbi, he needs to grow up in the ways of the world.
If true, it would be the ultimate exhibition of a slavish mentality which glorifies anything emanating from the Western World. 35 year old airframes! If used, one would have thought that we would be looking to helos which can serve us at home and abroad until 2025 at the very least.
There is nothing wrong with the capability of the AH-1 Cobra but what are the drivers? Will the airframes be rebuilt or at that age, there will be no structural issues pertaining to stressed out fuselages? I understand that they were in IAF service until 2013 and I am sure that they are bound to have been modernised over time, knowing the Israelis. And Elbit Systems are set to upgrade them further for all-weather operations.
OK, there are Mi-24V half as old which the Russians are retiring and which can be upgraded for night fighting in ISRAEL or South Africa. Not even the retired Bo-105s of the German Army are as old as that and they carry a similar combo of gun and rocket.
The talk of competing demands has boxed us into this pathetic situation? I mean, let us hope that these are 20 year old airframes and that our informant was just exaggerating. First, it was boneyard Kfir Block 60…now this. The lobby for Western aircraft of ANY vintage has gripped our MoD? To please who?
And what happens when next HRW level allegations of rights abuses against our forces? That number of choppers get grounded? One would have thought that it is in our strategic national interest to stick to non-controversial, non-lethal transport/utility helicopters used for medical evacuation and SAR such that nobody says they were used to kill civilians? I mean, they are American-made helos, not Israeli-made ones. And that means, American lobbyists will have a say on their deployment for combat at some point.
OK..siddon look mode activated. Let’s hope it all turns out to be baggage-free.
READ
“Israel retired its fleet of some 33 AH-1 Cobras in late 2013 due to budget cuts.The attack helicopter role was taken up entirely by two squadrons of Israeli AH-64 Apache helicopters, and the fleet of unmanned aerial vehicles took over the role of patrolling combat zones. The Cobra fleet was older than the Apaches and responsible for some fatal crashes, and more expensive to maintain than UAVs and more vulnerable for pilots to MANPADS fired by guerrilla groups”
THIS IS A GOOD CHOICE
First of all let me express heartfelt appreciation for all @Beegeagle has been doing in the defence and security space and say only God will reward you for sticking out your neck.
However on this deal, I think the FG made a good choice the downside being the OEM rep. Everybody knows where I stand with this kind of patronage dispensing, parochialism and atavistic cleavage perpetuation that has become our defence procurement standard. Let the fake patriots continue their infantile, mushy praise worship.
Now on the choppers, this is a good deal for many reasons:
RELIABILITY & LIFECYCLE COST
Nobody does aerospace reliability like the Americans. Essentially chopper reliability is the reliability of a gas turbine engine, gearbox, rotor shafts and rotors including the all important tail rotors. As one of the few engineers in the room I can tell you that American design- in reliability into products and proof test the designs extensively before production. On top of that our Israeli friends have elevated aircraft remnant life extension into high art.
Now compare this impressive background with the MI series of choppers with proven gearbox issues that made us sell our MI 34s.
MANEUVERABILITY
I am sure every blogger here has felt concerns the lumbering sluggishness of the MI 35 series and even more disturbing, the MI 171sh. Think of 10 MI 171Sh carrying SFs into Sambisa with equally clumsy MI 35s riding shotgun. The opponent, BH goons, highly mobile on technical with Dshks and (MANPADs?). Does it inspire confidence?. NO!!!.
You are going to need AGILITY here and no Russian chopper except the MI 28 will give you that. The Russians themselves will NOT use MI 35s after 2015.
AVIONICS AND NIGHT VISION
So it is back to reliability again. Gentlemen, screens dey go blank o. For wartime. Display s have refresh rate ans sometimes don’t come on, sensors have lag time to communicate with other equipment and malfunctionet.c, st.c. So many real, practical experience designed into the conga by the country that invented helicopter warfare and almost won it in the monsoons of s.east Asia.
IT IS WHAT NAF WANTS
Everyone here knows how I feel about the immediate past leadership of the airforce but for once I think the new leadership did some requirements gathering rom the real grunt pilots here.
LOCAL SUPPORT
So who makes Cobras?. Bell Textron. What’s special about them?. Well they make the most widely used choppers in Nigeria that’s all. I spent 15 years flying week in and out of oilfields in the N. Delta on Bells. I have put Bell helicopters on a massive field security evacuation of 250 people within six hours before, a chopper flying back and forth six times on that day in question. Bell pilots and engineers full everywia for obodo Nigeria.
SANCTIONS ON RUSSIA
For those asking us to put all chopper eggs in the Rosoboronexport basket, let me just say this. You better be sure that no IC, no turbine blade, no alloy, no LCD screen is going into that chopper from a US, EU, African or S. American source. If na so, dem go get you eventually. National pride is going to prevent our Russian Bear’s over-reaching leader from backing down on many issues (he just tested cruise missiles) so this is going to get ugly fast and last many years. Because of the Maintenance intensity of Russian choppers we may start needing the spares within six months after procurement so you better have good reliability engineers who can predict failures or you have brand new unflyable scrap in your hands after six months. I actually believe 70% of our MI choppers are down now, just a guess.
OUR NEIGHBOURS USE MI 35s
So let’s take the argument into the strategic space. Cameroon is buying
MI 35s, so also is Niger and Chad. What advantage does it confer to standardize on this third world technology?. Why should we be predictable to our potential opponents.
COST OF OPERATIONS
I don’t have the figures but I will bet if refurbished engines are fitted, this chopper will have lower operating cost than any of the modern ones. The number of sorties and patrols flown during the Vietnam and Arab Israeli wars bear testimony to this.
ACCESS TO TOW, MAVERICK, HELLFIRE MISSILES
We now have access to super accurate, pilot mission fatigue reducing targeting and precision warfare capabilities and weaponry with this system.
As for the contracting process, only Beegeagle has restrained me from going ballistic on many things wrong with Nigerian defsec procurement.
I have also tried to avoid insults from the blue eyed @IGBI who is busy shouting patriotism without thinking of rescuing his country from people who have sold it already and are now going into selling the future of our children on top of that. Such good intentions and intelligence not going into the right channels.
The answer to our concern is a well negotiated commercial warranties signed at head of government levels. Warranties are also based on hard headed reliability and availability calculations. Proper training and leveraging on the manufacturer s established networks of pilots, engineers and support personnel will also help.
Going by what has gone before with the DSS since inception and SF units, I do not doubt the fact that training support shall be readily available by the IAF…one which will be as keen as that which suffices with the PAF on the F-7 AirGuard.
LOL..who told you that they shall be selling missiles to you? I expect only cannon and rockets, after the dummy Britain sold us ref Jaguar jets.
As for Mi-24V/Mi-35P, those have done excellently well for us. Prior to the May 2013 crash of a Hind at PHC, we had only recorded one crashed Mi-35P (NAF 530) in April 2007 and that was back in the air by October 2008 after it was restored at LOM PRAHA. As you well know, we began operating Hind helos in 2000 AD.
Right, Bell Helicopters are hugely popular in the Nigerian aviation sector and with the NPF. That is a plus should the need to establish a Service Centre arise. That would be very viable.
Hey, the Mi-35M stays aloft beyond 2015..alongside the closely related(systems and features) Mi-171Sh and Mi-28. Mi-24V and Mi-35P shall be surplus to Russian requirements after 2015. But going by the example of the T55 with dozens of upgrade packages available, the Mi-24V and Mi-35P shall still be hot favorites internationally for another two decades.
Now, you have said a lot about the Cobra’s agility and I submit that if the IAF only retired them in 2013 to make room for AH-64 Apache (budgetary outlays could not sustain the operation of both types), the AH-1 Cobra are bound to be in good condition and their systems, modern. Good that NV capability is on the cards.
The question…if they are indeed 35 year old airframes, would structural weaknesses not be an issue? When last did they get new engines? How long are they expected to serve the NAF? Will the airframes be rebuilt?
ABOVE ALL, given the reality of sanctions which crippled the NAF once before and the deafening cries of rights abuses laid by AI and HRW, how would this affect the continued operation of the AH-1 Cobra in NAF service? The airframe is of US origin and they will always have a say on its deployment, whether or not Israel sold them to the NAF. No? We saw how things quickly turned around in Egypt this year as al-Sisi turned to Russia for hardware? Do we have that unsavoury possibility sorted out?
You got it right on why they retired them. AH 64s were too sexy and Longbow radar just too awesome. Good for killing tanks. Also think about lobbying from the American President and Senators from States where Apache components are a made. So many things inform retiring a machine. Now the last Lebanon invasion even, I think it was 50/50 split between Apache and Cobra.
In any case I think everybody accepts the usage rate is low, we are just worried about age-related corrosion but then we have all these winch Israelis with their advanced material science and structural stress relief technologies.
Another area we need understanding with NAF. What would you do if requirements were immediate, forced on you by circumstances?.
You have mismanaged procurement in the past, not released money over many budget cycles.
Do you join a queue under Rosoboronexport and wait till 2016, believe me the waiting time is that long, more than 20 nations are buying the choppers from only one factory. Meanwhile BH is killing civilians, ambushing troops, doing James Bond and making the NA look stupid.
I don’t know where the 2nos MIs delivered have come from but it might just be govt to govt let me borrow your own kind of thing. So that left second hand MI series again as option and I am sure pilots balked.
I concede that as well. The NAF can only take actions hinged on the immediate if it is meant to impact the tide of this war. We did this during the Civil War as well. Everyone at war is doing or has done that – Iraq to Pakistan, India to The Philippines, Angola to Sudan, Turkey to DR Congo.
Personally, budget constraints, the requirement for usable numbers of systems in view and battle exigencies have led one to consistently recommend the acquisition of a mix of new and used hardware systems. It is not peculiar to Nigeria. Read up what the Turks have done, snapping up retired OHP frigates, F4 Phantoms and AH-1 Cobra. Ditto Pakistan. They are engaged in COIN operations too.
Only last week, Indonesia which once acquired 39 ex-East German ships and which grabbed ex-Bundeswehr Leopard tanks last year, began to take delivery of the first three units of 24 retired F16s from the USA…even after haven lately acquired about twelve new Su-27SKM and Su-30 jets, acquired in batches of three since the mid-2000s.
So however rosy-eyed and flippant Nigerians want to be, we must buy new and decommissioned hardware simultaneously. Richer and more advanced countries do it too. The Philippines have perfected the art as things stand.
A
30 Cobra gunships, USD2.5m apiece? Are we even sure it was refurbished before sale? Why would the Kenyans go in for 16 Mil-28s and we get 35yr old Cobras?…I just hope the assets coming in from Russia are M171Sh ..this is criminal.
20 units of AH-1 Cobra, he said. If indeed 30 helos shall be of US origin, as was contained in the PUNCH newspapers report of today, that means ten units shall be Sea Knight/Seasprite trans/utility helics.
HEY…let’s mind our own issues. The African brothers say a lot but will never provide a weblink, log entry or photo, even at the pain of death, to justify purported ownership of anything that they lay claims to ownership of – from F15s (believe me, they actually believe that they own some of those) to Rafale (another shameful rumour which gained currency after the fall of Gaddafi…supposedly cascaded ex-French jets used in Libya, they claimed).
Remember the photoshopped Mi-28 helo which I once posted here and it turned out to be a monumental and embarrassing hoax? Some desperate fella actually took the time to have a roundel embossed on a Mi-28 just to pass it off as being in service with his nation’s airforce? Incredible really. I deleted the photo as soon as I realised the credibility-denting gaffe and have remained wary ever since.
Very good deal commercially. The NV equipment might even have been foosa. They on their own by themselves cost that much. When is Kenya getting their 28s?.
You still have not said whether the airframes will be rebuilt. How much more of a beating can a 35 year old fuselage take?
Airframe beating?. When you buy 30 pieces of something you can spread the usage rate carefully among platforms. Also, very careful weapon loading of airframe, no drop tanks to stress the fuselage (where are you flying to sef..the moon?) and not every time you need to do topgun stuff pulling high g’s. Just fly, scan, detect, track, lock, guide, destroy and fly back home.
Aah…lol. Now you are scaring me. Na so d tin don pafuka reach? I thought you were coming with how they are going to roll back the years on the airframe with some alloys and stuff?
LOL. On the off chance that Israeli ‘winches’ don’t live up to billing, we fall back on locally developed nigerian asset management techniques.
I hope this Cobra acquisition story is not true. It makes absolutely no sense, buying bone-yard equipment over and over.
I just hope this cobra acquisition is false. This is why the AIr Expo by the NAF is going to be the most important event in the history of the Airforce since the Shagari era?
I am tempted to say “AMEN” to that. Why? I hear that Nigeria and Uganda are on the cusp of EU sanctions on account of gay rights issues.
This business of whimsically having nations arm-twisted is why I am only comfortable with Israeli, Russian and Chinese hardware. I hardly give a hoot about the rest of what is on offer on the shelf by anyone else.
The COIN challenge on the ground is an infantryman’s war in the main. We can get all our HMGs, AGLs, RCLs, MRLs, mortars, MRAPs, APCs and IFVs off NORINCO and Poly Technologies for all I care if it goes with tech transfer etc. It is not an ultra hi-tech iteration at any rate.
In any case, the Taliban are armed with Chinese weapons routed through Iran and the rogue wing of the ISI and the world’s best armed armies still have no answer to the nuisance posed by the Taliban.
We will counter any threat of defsec sanctions on account of gay rights with… “our girls”.
If their governments persist we use their conservative press, opposition elements, PR firms and lobbyists. The social value proposition:”Which is more important, the girl child rights or the rights of same sex couples to marry each other?”. We will make it a global debate.
I am queasy about the whole thing oga beegs my street level omo isale eko (child from the bottom streets of lagos) street smarts just do not believe this story is true. Someone somewhere put out a story and a paper picked it up. Things just do not add up,the sea sprite makes sense, the ch-46 adds up.The 35 year old chopper does not make anysense if it is us to nigeria govt to govt wetin concern israel?The thing that makes sense to me is there are anawful lot of bell helicopters flying around in Nigeria both with the NPF and the oil companies. Oga obix needs to inform us about the sanctions game as robonexport has just been added to that list by potus. Putin has to decide thumb his nose at the West so Nigeria must becareful because the threat of sanctions from Europe is very real. T-Mobile. America’s First Nationwide 4G Network
I am wondering if, after so much hyperventilation about corruption, such a deal, if sanctioned by the USA, would not be tantamount to abetting sharp practice 🙂
Ah, ahn…35 galloping years !! Na wetin..on an airframe, not a ship o. Or do they want them grounded by 2016, so that everyone is rid of the emotional baggage and moral responsibility stemming from their use in combat operations?
THE US has never allowed corruption or support for gay rights let them get in the way of selling weapons to Taiwan or Saudi Arabia.
What determines the sale is it in America’s interests.
It is not in America’s interests to sell HELIOS that will break down the next day. Neithier do they go through a middleman or some chief in Nigeria it tends to be GOVT TO GOVT especially when dealing with Nigeria. Hence the it does not pass the small test. Right they just concluded a govt to govt VIA the sf/ ranger battalion this should translate into the type of Helios the Americans use for sf.This is what makes sense they do not employ Israelis to do their sales for them it just does not add up. I dumped my books I AM GOING WITH MY STREET SMARTS.
Well, Egbon Jimmy, we cannot even get mere MRAPs or uparmored Hummers off the USA YET they just opened up their strategic reserves in Israel to their Jewish allies whose bombardment led to the deaths of fifteen persons at a UN school for refugees in Gaza.
If that had happened in Nigeria, Amnesty International and Human Rights would have issued damning reports and the BEEB would be parroting that today.
BTW, the story of the supposed rescue of the wife of the Cameroonian Vice Premier, was first aired by BEEB HAUSA. I told you gentlemen that coming from Premium Times, it had to be drivel. The goal was simply to embarrass the Nigerian FG and military by saying “aha, look what little Cameroon are doing against BH” and to get Nigerians to be at odds with the FG…all in a bid to shore up the stocks of the APC.
Do not forget that a few months ago, BEEB HAUSA again lied about a purported attack on the sacking of the HQ of a local govt council in northern Borno. The chairman of that same LG later expressed outrage at the patently false report.
Three days after, has any serious news agency who are well-grounded on Cameroonian matters carried the story on the purported liberation of the Vice Premier’s wife? AFP, Reuters or XINHUA?
I’m sorry Oga Beeg, there is nothing to say Amen to.
It seems the Nigerian infantry S.F man has been issued with Tavor TAR-21. It seems so,not sure though.
OK..more perpectives. The USA were offloading 478 decommissioned units of AH-1 Cobra attack helos until 2002. Israel reportedly got 100 units of those, presumably put into storage or scrapped for spares. Therefore, the talk of 35 year old airframes is probably hollow.
SOME INTERESTING EXCERPTS ON THE CIRCULATION USED AH-1 COBRA GLOBALLY
“According to the US Army , Foreign Military Sale customers for the overhauled Cobras have included Israel, Jordan, Bahrain, and Turkey. Pakistan, which has a civil war of its own underway and remains the locus of Afghanistan’s problems, has also received a number of AH-1F helicopters and parts in recent years, under American military aid programs.
The last US Army Cobra was dropped off 6 months after the 9/11 terrorist attacks and now program’s the final 4 AH-1s are
being sent to Thailand, which has a
significant terrorism problem in its
Muslim southern districts.
The program’s largest customer,however, may have been Israel, who reportedly fly AH-1G, E, S, and F variants of the “Tzefa” (Viper”). The Israelis reportedly bought 100 airframes.
The article did not mention refurbishment, and published accounts of the Israelis’ force structure do
not even total 100 AH-1 Tzefas. On the
other hand, even 100 “as is” airframes
would be a great supply security move
that would stock a parallel Israeli repair
and maintenance program for a long time. They may need it.
Chuck Florence, a quality assurance representative who oversees the Directorate of Logistics’ ALMD Foreign Military Sales effort, had this to say about the helicopters, and the reasons for their departure: “The Cobra really was a very expensive aircraft to maintain.”
http://www.defenseindustrydaily.com/Cobra-Gold-The-US-Armys-Smart-Retirement-Program-06652/
This comment is a taunt, I just feel like going “full gangster” on this major sha tal guy. The worry for me is, ironically, our government is well capable of completing a deal as absurd as this.
You’ll be lying to yourself, if you believe our govt isn’t capable of seeing through a deal of this nature.
There is absolutely no way to sugar-coat this, it is an utter embarrassment, you could not go any lower than this.
What next?……….. German half-tracks?
Please remember we are coming from a situation of 50 NAF choppers including A109s without even a pistol mounted. Only things armed are MI 24/35s and dem done they fail. We need something NOW to kill fast moving bad guys accurately from the air.?
Leave airframe age matter. Iran is still flying F 14s. America has bluntly refused to retire B52 carpet bombers. Meanwhile, wait for it…. the new F22s and F35s are being sequentially grounded to look for cracks in airframe and engine mounts. Life is not a linear thing. $2.5million per piece is very good price.
Oga Arejames, you make a fairly good argument, but this rumour is still a major step backwards for nigeria, if it is confirmed.
At this point, it is still a rumour, and not true.
UNCONFIRMED RIPOSTE BY MAJ. SHAY TAL;
I think you people didn’t get it right concerning the price. The Israeli Government sold the 20 Cobras to Prince Arthur Eze for $2.5 mil apiece for further delivery to the NAF. Eze sold the complete package to Mr. President for $300 mil. But since he’s a great philanthropist, please let’s forgive him.
Mr Man, let us hope that you are speaking the truth and were not outwitted in the bid to supply the choppers.
HOW, given the reality of the existence of a U.S-Nigeria Bi-National Commission which has a security roundtable and talks so much about human rights and corruption, would this sale be carried forward without the knowledge of the USA? How will they allow the Nigerian FG to purchase a retired helicopter for US$15m apiece…in effect, at an astonishing 600% margin whereas a brand-new and more advanced Mi-28 would cost US$16m.
First, it was 35 year old choppers. Now, you are suggesting that they cost US$15m. The USA are alert to sharp practice in Nigerian contracting and must be aware of the sale and planned resale price of the AH-1 Cobra and I DOUBT that they will sit idly by and watch the Nigerian nation fleeced off so badly. Thankfully, they are reading this.
I say again, I hope that all of this is not steeped in sour grapes and that all these allegations are not geared towards scuttling a deal which does not sit well with you.
STILL, am beginning to think that your pecuniary interest is at stake in all of this.
I knew this story was false. It is very clear that it makes no sense. $15million for 35 years old helicopters, who would even do that.
This guy who is posting is just a troll short for trouble maker. One of thosed shady israeli biz looking to make a deal.through any crooked means possibleby dropping a prominent nigerian name.Gej said these deals would be govt to govt between the us ,russia and Nigeria nowhere did it mention a third party of Israel.
I believe he got his shekel’s worth of cheap publicity.The confirmed pictures we have had whether it was the C130 or the sea sprite it was us govt to Nigerian govt.This guy is just another meshugane
This is what you get when you must but highly sophisticated defence systems through briefcase resident ‘general contractors’. Confusion, mis information, corruption and you will never get to the truth. Choppers retired in 2013, less than a year ago,somebody is saying they were 35years old in service. Israel of all countries is awash in American defence equipment and would not be flying 34year old machines into battle. If the essential fabric of the story is true, this was an Israeli donation to Nigeria and some business man with connections was hired to front for the upgrades and make money for the ‘boys in uniform’ while doing this.
*buy*
That guy might have guided our train of thoughts towards the reality that the NAF are fathomably in the hunt for ex-IAF AH-1 Cobra attack helicopters. He even gave believable numbers thereof…20 attack helicopters in one loop is the kind of numbers which make sense and is the way to go for Nigeria. We appreciate the headsup.
However, he appears to have embellished the following;
* the age of the airframes. Even I doubt that the ever-busy IAF have any reason to keep 33 AH-1 Cobra attack helicopters in service for 35 years. It is inevitable that some or all of them are a lot YOUNGER than that.
* the purported resale price which he quoted is outrightly insane. There is no way that the sale and resale prices would not be known to the USA and Israel and at US$15m including upgrades, it would be crazy to sell any used AH-1 at that rate with the knowledge of the USA without triggering off a corruption scandal which would greatly embarrass the US Govt. These things happen. Remember ANGOLAGate and France?
So this chap probably has an unstated agenda. In moving for the overkill, his riposte fails to add up and he appears to have been interested in that deal but lost out to the eventual contractor.
YES to what you said about the US watching its ‘used weapon systems’ re-sales.
NO to your conclusion that that could prevent my country people’s genetic predisposition to make a fast buck. There is nothing in the universe that stands against that one, not even the clear possibility of a global corruption scandal. It is an entitlement thing here. LOL.
OK, those are almost certainly NOT 35 year old airframes. The records show that Israel imported 86 units of the late model and twin-engined AH-1W SUPER COBRA attack helicopters from the USA in 1996.
IF they have now withdrawn all Cobra helos to pile on the Apache instead, it is unfathomable that, from a pool of 86 decommissioned units of 1990s vintage Cobra helics, they cannot find 20 of the most airworthy and sparingly flown units to sell to the NAF
SEE
http://www.deagel.com/equipment/Combat-Helicopters/AH-1-Cobra.htm
And for EMPHASIS, the 86 units sold to Israel by America in 1996 were late-model AH-1W Super Cobra (aka Whiskey Cobra), which is twin-engined as compared to the single-engined Cobra.
Whiskey Cobras took part in the 2003 invasion of Iraq and saw extensive COIN action alongside Apache helos thereafter in that same theatre.
So the NAF might actually be looking to buy the late model variant that is the twin-engined AH-1W Super Cobra and NOT the 1970s vintage single-engined AH-1 Cobra.
If that is case, then at US$2.5m apiece, it was a very good bargain. What is left is HOW do we play the politics entailed in operating Western-made combat assets, lest they get grounded before they have even become airborne?
Thank you.
AH-1W SUPER COBRA…the shape of things to come?
Could the cobras be for army aviation ?
Look at the narrow profile on this modern approach to combat chopper design reducing the probability of a hit from AA ballistic rounds. Chafe dispensers for heat seeking missile protection comes standard. Pilot observation is increased with the cockpit design, you could actually wear a NV headset in the cockpit if you don’t have installed FLIR on the chopper (this needs to be confirmed though). The pilot cabin would be armoured to a level close but not equal to MI 35. A lot of people have noticed that the new MI 28s have stolen a lot of features from this bird.
Omo, anybody knows if its tha AH1z Zulu ?, if na that one, dierrrrr, will be a great steal, irrespective of the price, 15 mill a piece for that baby would technically leapfrog our air capabilities, Since they were recently refurbished and upgraded with new displays, target acquisition capabilities and strengthened air frames. We must understand the rational behind these acquisitions if its true, and like Oga Beeg said, Bell is very much the backbone of the Nigerian Oil economy, and i dont see sanctions rolling back decades of entrenched interest in the oil sector, hence the military, if ever under sanctions, can still keep those baby’s flying under the pretense of non military trade. If anything, the recent sanctions on Russia, shows that our interests can be scuttled in so many ways, so it makes sense to go for a commercially viable product, closely related to a military one, Bell seems to fit right in without raising too many eyebrows
OGA ABEG, MAKE I SHOW NA 🙂 ABEG ABEG ABEG
I was just thinking the same thing to myself. 20 Cobras….40 pilots trained for the Nigerian Army Aviation Corps as of 2012. Real possibility.
Fellow Cyber Generals,the age of the airframes may not be true as well as the price stated by that guy.Acquiring 20 units of used IAF AH-1 Super Cobra for the NAF is a good deal for Nigeria.
We are waiting to see them,but these are American choppers,will they not dictate to us on how to use them in the battle field?
Thanks.
I see no issue with the Americans if this is for COIN against Boko Haram. For other strategic national defence purposes, we have to start doing an Iran type local capacity building and sustainability management with local engineers doing studies on possibilities for dual use technology exploitation, reverse engineering and maintenance training. It is as much technical technical challenge as it is a political one.
oga BEEGS
The US has a vested interest in seeing a weakened Russia. Russia needs hard cash and the fickle EUROPEANS where the lights are very fickle to impose REAL SANCTIONS are reluctant to do anything however those decomposing European bodies ( got graphic for emphasis) may just tilt the apple cart over. Nigeria needs the attack HELIOS now . I am want to believe those HELIOS will be a mix of CH46 / Sea Sprite/ and just maybe the AH-1 Super Cobra however this will represent a major STEP UP in purchase allowance for the US, Knowing the US and the fickleness of our POLITICANS ( A MATCH MADE IN HEAVEN/ HELL) it just might make sense.
OGA HENRY said the next AIR expo may be the most important air expo since the Shagari era.
Can anyone make heads or tail from this annoying tale
http://www.osundefender.org/?p=179584
Nigerian reporters dey shame me,which kind nonsense stupid idiotic report is dis .in shut dey need to b sent to sambisa for 1week so dey go fit learn to d good reporting
Crazy tales by this crazy tabloid
One crew member is alive. Visited at the hospital by the leadership of the air force so what is the basis of this story?.
I will reserve my comment on this cobra scandal for latter
*eating hot eba*
The Government of Nigeria should show that they are ready to protect the Nigerian people and it territory at all cost. Our adversories most know that the Government of Nigeria would face any hardship, endour any pain to bring justice for the Nigerian people. If this is not done then justice would mean JUST US
Regarding the possible purchase of 35yr old cobra gunships.
If we can put 20 attack helicopters in the air and if Cameroon will no longer let BH retreat to fight another day, than it is a good thing.
But based on the age and the complexity of the gunships, we will be lucky to have 2 available after 18 months.
Never underestimate the fickleness of western governments or the greed of business men.
Recall that they tried to hold our feet to the fire to reactivate our UAV fleet?
Canada is still flying 50 year old helicopters (CH-124 Sea kings,) but for every 1 hour of flight, it requires 25 hours of maintenance. A nation like Canada, a NATO member with a large aerospace industry, can afford such man-hour intensive operations. Nigeria does not have the engineering man-hours that is required to maintain a fleet of old, complex gunships.
I will forgo commenting on the price until we have more information.
GOING by this haul of combat/transport helics
NIGERIA LINKED TO A CONTRACT FOR TEN MI-17/MI-171 HELICOPTERS IN 2012
EXCERPTS
” Among other major customers for Russian rotary-wing aircraft
were China (52 Mi-171E helicopters for $624 million), Afghanistan (10
aircraft, to be purchased with Pentagon money), Sri Lanka (14 Mi-171Sh helicopters), Nigeria (about 10 Mi-17/171s), Ghana (six Mi-17s) and Argentina (three examples of the Mi-171E modification).”
http://www.ato.ru/content/another-successful-year
AND reliable information by MENATTI to the effect two other units of Mi-17s are expected to be delivered from Ukraine, IT APPEARS as if the NAF are on the cusp or have already taken delivery of some or all of a haul of TWELVE units of Mi-17/Mi-171Sh Terminator helicopters.
That represents a commendable new vista in a country we have lately become used to seeing airframes being acquired in useless pairs.
The NAF chief visit to Pakistani Aeronautical Complex,Karma,the plant where the JF-17 Thunder fighter jet is being built, signs deal for industrial cooperation,takes a group photo besides a JF-17 with its cockpit opened, discussed the rebuilding of our F-7Ni to the F-7P variant.
Your thought is as good as mine.
Bros,
Stop day dreaming. Nothing would come out of this visit other than estacode for the team.
Every service chief in the last 5 years has visited all sort of places and nothing has happened. Acquiring platforms is not rocket science…If you want platforms today you would get, just pay…shikena…As part of the bargain you can even get early examples to start using especially in a conflict situation.
We are getting 6 more Alpha Jets…
The 6 Beechcrafts were paid for in cash, was there any visit ? The Do 228 were more on the ground than in the air and the big men just went and paid for it. No story
We are not serious…
What you have not explained is where the Alpha jets are coming from, Germany or France?. They probably would be second hand and then the CAS said the FG was buying new advanced combat aircraft and you seem not to be factoring that in. Personally I don’t put any value to anything said by this gov’t but still they know they will have to explain.
Oga Zachary999,you seems to be very confident about the NAF not acquiring any 4th Gen fighter jet,hmmm…I don’t know who you are,but I suspect that you are a NAF personnel from the intelligence branch,you mentioned on this blog that ‘may mistook the Air Beetle ABT 18 (ABT 20) for the Embraer EMB 314(ALX/A-29) Super Tucano counterinsurgency aircraft’,I can not err to identify the Air Beetle with its three(3) undercarriage permanently outside and its unique NAF markings of white with red for both wingtips, nose and tailplane. And the Tucano with its droptanks and grey painting like those upgraded Alpha jets,C-130, and G222 aircrafts.
I like and love my Country,NIGERIA, its Armed Forces especially the NAF even though my Dad served in the NA.
By the way a C-130 Hercules transport plane woke people up by flying very low over Makurdi town sometime within last week, it was really scary hearing the sound of its engines at that early hours of that day.
@Zachary999
This is a blog contributed to by very patriotic Nigerians focussed on the greatness of Nigria and the development of the defsec space within our overall national project. We are not joking here. We may be sometimes critical of government but in all that we do we seek accurate information first and then we like to do some analyses on that information so as to make sound deductions about what is really happening and some acceptable projections about what may then transpire. This your Alpha jet information does not sound logical. There are no new Alpha jet variants in the international market, if there were Nigeria would not be foolish enough to procure them as their frontline combat aircraft looking at the capabilities of our neighbours and the obvious limitations of these trainer jets. Most planned acquisitions including the Super Tucano, Chinese, Israeli and Pakistani aircraft were at the highest level of bilateral talks with other world leaders. I don’t like the way things are unfolding in my country as well but I would never descend to the level of disinformation you seem to be churning out now.
I guess like everything else in the country the people who are directly or even indirectly associated with procuring hardware weapons systems for Nigeria armed forces are simply cutting deals for themselves.
I have often wondered why we choose to pay more for outdated systems when we could easily pay for top range hardware for the same price, and I realised that, the considerations for those involved have nothing to do with what is best for three services, or even the paramilitary agencies but rather what is good for their pockets.
If not, how does one explain the fact that the Russian ambassador to Nigeria a few months ago was literally begging the Nigerian government to get in touch with his own government officially and specific which weapons systems Nigeria wants, and the areas it needs Russian assistance. Our government simply ignored that request.
It is all about money, money, money and very little about Nigeria. There is no patriotism whatsoever at the highest hierarchy of authority in Nigeria civilian or otherwise. They are all in it for the cash. Simple
Oga Zachary999 you need to prove all the following to be wrong :
NATO countries own Alpha jet patent, only two, Germany and France. Now, the USA veto has made NATO members refuse to sell arms to Nigeria now, so is Alpha jet non-lethal civilian aircraft?
In April, NAF Chief announced FG has acquired new aircraft for NAF to be showcased likely at Air Expo 2014, but expo was cancelled because of pilots in NE war campaign.
http://www.punchng.com/news/fg-okays-new-fighter-jets-for-air-force/
I have never known any NAF chief to announce false procurement information publicly to the whole world.
In September, about 12 units of 4th generation jets landed in Nigeria…
“The armed forces get set for final onslaught against the Boko Haram terrorists, the latest fighter jets in the world would start arriving the country this week.
Informed top military sources disclosed to the Nigerian Tribune at the weekend that the fighter jets, up to a dozen in number, were purchased directly by the Nigerian Air Force.
The source revealed that the jets are capable of bombing in the night, adding that this would enhance the operations of the soldiers.”
http://www.tribune.com.ng/news/top-stories/item/14864-b-haram-fg-acquires-12-fighter-jets-sect-kills-14-in-borno-jonathan-african-leaders-in-kenya-over-terrorism-allegations-against-ihejirika-absurd-fani-kayode/14864-b-haram-fg-acquires-12-fighter-jets-sect-kills-14-in-borno-jonathan-african-leaders-in-kenya-over-terrorism-allegations-against-ihejirika-absurd-fani-kayode
We need proof from Oga Zachary999 that all the above information is false.
Your article is since September and this is November… so where the Jets ?
NAF Chief views open cockpit JF-17 Thunder jet last week….
JF-17 Thunder jet manufacturing complex inspection by NAF Chief Of Staff Air Marshal Adesola Amosu in Pakistan a few days ago, full story and photo gallery….
“Lahore: A delegation of Nigerian Air Force headed by Air Marshal Adesola Nunayon Amosu, Chief of the Air Staff, Nigerian Air Force visited Pakistan Aeronautical Complex Kamra. On their arrival, it was received by Air Vice Marshal Nudrat Hussain Kazmi, Acting Chairman Pakistan Aeronautical Complex Board, Kamra.
The delegation was briefed about organization and functions of PAC Kamra. The delegation visited Aircraft Rebuild Factory and Aircraft Manufacturing Factory. They took keen interest in the Final Assembly Line and Flight Testing facilities of JF-17 Thunder and Super Mushshak aircraft.
Earlier, the Nigerian Air Force delegation visited Joint Services Headquarters, Rawalpindi. Air Marshal Adesola Nunayon Amosu, Chief of the Air Staff, Nigerian Air Force called on General Rashad Mahmood, Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee in his office. Both the dignitaries discussed matters of bilateral cooperation and professional interest.
The Nigerian Air Force delegation also visited Global Industrial and Defence Solution, (GIDS), Rawalpindi, where it was received by Air Vice Malik (R) Zubair Iqbal Malik, Director General ,(GIDS). The delegation was briefed about organization and functions of different departments of GIDS. The distinguished guests visited different departments of the GIDS and took keen interest in various projects and research work being carried out at the organization.”
..
Oga Doziex,
I bow and tremble. You know as much as your contributions are good I must of course beg to differ.
PMCs are not the solution.
In the current climate a PMC has the same effect as holding a prayer meeting in a brothel.
The necessary political will to end this conflict is lacking. the number one objective of everyone att the top is to either keep their jobs or et a juicier job, this is why the Minister of State for Defence rather than retiring to his village to contemplate how under his watch we conceded territory to a bunch of al Majiris in pick up trucks is dragging governorship in Lagos.
What is needed is for someone to (a) recognise there is a problem (b) recognise what the problem is (c) define the solution (d) start implementing that solution.
If your PMC is the answer that will come in part D.
oga peccavi
i am going to mke a very unusual request that is to play the role of moderator between myself and oga doziex, have a lot of respect for both of you and even when i disagree with your bare bones style i still agree that my arm them to the max style we meet in the middle however oga doziex with some of his posts have gone to far, i have just finished and hopefully i have passed my last exam to get my engineer’s license you will hear from me in the following days replying oga doziex you have my permission and my respect to call me to order if you so deem being the only one among us who has actually had bullets zipping by him.
STAND DOWN! Don’t lose your cool, the blog is like a pressure cooker right now. You are been looked up to so I implore you to STAND DOWN!
My oga has spoken. I must listen. T-Mobile. America’s First Nationwide 4G Network
You have said it all @Oga peccavi. Political will is the key word here. This twerps are getting emboldened everyday while we expect a counter. Heard they renamed one of their held towns and raided another today.
Cyber Generals,I got an unconfirm report that a NAF fighter pilot got a radio call from the battlefield for air support from own troops,without a direct order from his CO,he jumped into his fighter jet and flew to the battle area where he attacked and destroyed alot of Boko Haram technicals,his bird also got hit by BH AAAs.When he flew back to Base in Yola,on alighting from the jet,he was immediatelly arrested by NAF Air Police.
I can not confirm whether this particular incident is related to the report online about the destruction of over 100 BOKO HARAM hilux and technicals.
Probably not a big deal. He would be arrested for acting without orders. That is pretty normal. However, what would be abnormal would be if he is not released once his account of proceedings are verified.
He might actually end up with a cautious commendation with warning on future behavior.
http://odili.net/news/source/2014/nov/4/339.html
Wake me up when they get serious, because right now they ( the f.g..) are not serious.
http://www.punchng.com/news/fishermen-find-fighter-jet-near-river-benue/ ( if this is true)
it took an illiterate fisherman to find the NAF 466 not only are these jets 30 years old but they do not have beacon locators.
Oga Jimmy,
Me I no fit vex, at a time like this those of us who even if we disagree can at least proffer solutions that do not include spaceships, jihads against China or Japan or whatever must keep throwing our thoughts out there.
I might disagree with your ‘lets go shopping’ view or Oga Doziexs ‘PMC forever’ view but that’s because I believe both of those are simply aduncts to the more important factor of structure, organisation and doctrine.
Ceasefire:
It is fairly understandable and in fact would be dereliction of duty if the FGN had not tried to negotiate with Boko Haram, what is fairly incomprehensible is the unilateral declaration of a ceasefire. Not just by the more powerful side, the legal, governing body but without any attempt to obtain a credible commitment from the other side. It is entirely possible the negotiations were in good faith, it is also entirely possible that the Boko Haram simply reneged on the deal. However all of this should have been anticipated and a robust contingency plan enacted.
The apparent routing of an entire Brigade at Mubi demonstrates that the fundamental leadership, doctrinal and organisational problems that have plagued the Nigerian Army are yet to be fixed and will not be fixed without clear headed intelligent leadership.
There is not much to write or analyse. As predicted Boko Haram rapidly put their money and released leaders to use and launched their Dry Season Offensive.
It is difficult to guess their intent just yet but I would suggest the vainglorious attempt to capture Maiduguri will take a back burner to the more sensible and obtainable goal of securing their gains,
I believe these are shaping ops for the Dry Season offensive.
Thus while the eastern attacks in Gombe could be seen as setting the scene for a more aggressive offensive or an investment of Damaturu or Potiskum, it is more likely these attacks are a diversion seeking to draw friendly forces to defend Gombe and the approaches to Potiskum and Damaturu.
I would assess the attack south on Mubi deeper into Adamawa as the main effort. Not only does this spoiling attack to prevent an offensive towards Madagali and Gwoza, but secures their southern flank and protects access to the mountains. Same as the capture of Abadam which drew forces away from Lake Chad as the dry season sets in an it shrinks opening up new routes by which supplies can be smuggled.
As a commenter on the Nigerian DefSec Blog Beegeagle said ‘Nigeria Ceases fire Boko Haram Seize territory’.
There are virtually no counter measures left that will not result in large civilian casualties and displacement thus hard questions must be asked of the leadership and their strategy.
I expect when the long winded offensive begins from the NA eventually commences there will be massive casualties both Civilians, NA and particularly Boko haram.
The reason why this war is going to drag on is the lack of political will starting at the top and the lack of a coherent or Dysfunctional Leadership coming from the CDS office
The CDS has proved one thing to his fellow Nigerians whom he is supposed to serve that he incapable of this job
1) The announcement that The war will be over in April 2014
2) The announcement that we know where the girls are and no MILITARY SIGNIFICANT ACTION TO DATE to rescue / indirect bring the real kidnappers to justice belongs on his doorstep.
3) He is supposed to advise the President about the perils of the ceasefire as the No.1 Soldier IF HE DID NOT HE SHOULD RESIGN.
4) The lack of advice on his part to the president that at a minimum of a Squadron of Fighter Jets SU27 / 30 ( 12 in number are needed now) and a squadron (12 of Night stalkers MI35 ARE NEEDED now) is a demonstration of military incompetence on his part .The useless photo OPS BY HIS AIR MARSHALL SHOULD STOP.He is not impressing anyone. Please bring the crated jets jf-17 home OR STOP THE CHARADE it took the Iraqis one week. We need this stuff now or your SONS will be fighting in this war!
OFFICIALLY
The dry season will start NEXT MONTH ( it does not matter whether BH renames GWOZA or not they will probably look to capture in more FEEBLE AREAS OF ADAMAWA STATE and AREAS OF BORNO STATE WHILE THE POLITICAL ADMINISTRATION FIGHTS FOR nomination forms.
LASTLY MUBI:
We last heard that the newly appointed GOC was told to move to the scene of the crime ( why they make these stupid announcements is beyond comprehension they must think the wretched PEOPLE OF MUBI are that IDIOTIC, NO THEY ARE NOT WHAT THE PEOPLE OF MUBI WANT IS FOR THE F.G to reclaim the second largest city in ADAMAWA STATE.
http://www.defenceweb.co.za/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=36880:algerian-peoples-national-army&catid=119:african-militaries&Item
CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM NO.1
What a country similar to Nigeria in topography with similar internal problems did/ are doing.
CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM NO.2
Nigeria needs to build at least three brand new prisons that are to super max standards ( ABUJA , LAGOS and KADUNA ) and the ENTIRE prison staff needs to be retrained in counter terrorism.
http://www.punchng.com/news/national-security-council-meeting-holds-today/
CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM NO.3.
Last Week Friday Mubi was taken over by Boko Haram this week a prison was invaded and the inmates were set free to join Boko Haram this week un verified reports point to A single NAF jet bombing a 100 + BH motor vehicle, This week the President will meet with the three service chiefs
To the Army Chief he SHOULD ASK POLITELY IF BOKO HARAM can overrun MUBI in 24 hours why and how long is it going to take the Nigerian ARMY to recover MUBI if Mubi is not of Nigeria by Monday he should tender his resignation A General who cannot retake any town despite the massive resources at his disposal should do the honorable thing and resign.
http://www.vanguardngr.com/2014/11/naf-refurbishes-aircraft-fight-insurgency/
Fellow Cyber Generals, is it true that 40 combat US military personnel arrived DHQs Abuja, yesterday to join the fight against Boko Haram and that FG will soon bring in Egyptian combat pilots to come fly our aircrafts for us?
Please any body in the house to shed more light ?
Oga Gbash 10, i asked the same question yesterday in the “27 BOKO HARAM HOSTAGES RELEASED IN CAMEROON” thread. There’s no confirmation yet from any source. I was rather hoping on people like you to confirm the news!
The Story about Egyptian pilots seems bogus to me. Again, we’ve always had American troops on the ground in Nigeria, since the beginning of this insurgency up till today. We always had Israeli PMC’s, Pakistani trainers and very expensive American training programs. So, nothing new.
Interesting article! Boko Haram: The Mystery Solved:
http://leadership.ng/columns/389787/boko-haram-mystery-solved
REVEALED: How Chadian president fooled Nigeria on phantom Boko Haram ceasefire
http://www.thecable.ng/revealed-chadian-president-fooled-nigeria-phantom-boko-haram-ceasefire
Deby did not fool all Nigerians.
He fooled the FG.
Anybody can fool the FG.
Nigerians know what to do with their government come Feb. 2015.
Na today?
Leave the North.
Without political will (which we lack), effective and decisive leadership (which we also lack) no amount of foreign involvement would amount to anything. From the get go I have always maintained that the Nigerian army has what it takes to solve the BH problem but what it lacks is leadership.. effective leadership that is. Oga Peccavi has the way of it when he stated what we need do is work out a holistic strategy against BH. Put our best men forward and use every asset available to us to our advantage.
This is not just about getting shining military hardware (as the battle in Gwoza and Mubi has shown.. those can be gifted to the enemy without a fight)… all the talk here of what we should or shouldn’t do will not amount to anything unless and until we have a focused and effective leadership
There is a wide chasm between military trainers i.e Nigeria sends 1200 troops to train in Russia for 4 months, or us rangers or isrealis come to Nigeria to train a preselected battalion for a few months.
And Military Advisors i.e the units the US is embedding in the Iraqi HQs.
US sent up to 16 thousand advisers to south Vietnam, to embed at all levels before getting sucked into the war.
On the private side, I have mentioned the EO, STTEP and MPRI embedded mentorship severally.
An advisor at HQ level will contribute to strategy and logistics. The ones’ at company level will teach and instruct side by side with the troops on all things pertaining to proper execution of strategy.
An Advisor is NOT just a trainer.
We’ve always had them. Advisors, trainers whatever, the recent 6 weeks ranger training has cost the military over $500k.
PMC’s, trainings abroad, trainings in Nigeria, joint ops, joint training exercises have always been carried out.
Nothing new.
Still not embedded advisers.
That would advice you as you fight.
pls wot of our gulma UAV.since b BH move around in dey donated APC ,atleast dey can b spotted n monitored for easy bombardment.
Maybe this war was really a ‘nothing’ that became ‘something’.
It is possible that pecuniary considerations informed its expansion and continued sustenance by the greedy collective leadership of Nigeria’s defsec institutions. Let us remember that the funds involved have been staggering (tens of billions of do$s) with little to show for it on the ground.
It has also become suspiciously central to everything the DHQ is doing that I am now becoming even more suspicious. Nigeria’s entire defence paradigm, strategies and focus should not be defined entirely by Boko Haram.
I think we should reject boundaries. A good way to go might be to have just two divisions of multi-sourced COIN troops specifically trained and equipped (combat aircraft and ground offensive equipment) for that role in that theatre and ringfenced from the the rest of the NA/NAF. Please note that the emphasis here is in insulating the rest of the army and airforce from the war in the NE. Military advisers and foreign consultants get to work within that those boundaries and narrow context of the North Eastern theatre with specialized strategies, weaponry, tactics and eventual peace winning/deradicalization processes. The govt is already starting something like this on the military side but the separation from the rest of the NA/NAF should be emphasized. This should be a pure COIN corps and whatever we are doing with foreign advisers should be limited to this corps. On no account should they be spending time in our war rooms and flying planes from other countries into Nigeria. There should be well structured contracts and security agreements guiding their operations.
Doing things this way (1) protects our vital national security information from going into the hands of people who might later be enemies (2) ensures that the war begins to have a clear timeline, finite budget and known deliverables, right now all we have is an ambiguously defined timeline, unclear workscope financed through an open check that is going to ruin Nigeria in three months if the oil price stays below $85 a barrel. (3) for the period the war lasts, we should rotate regular army formations into and out of the COIN corps just for operational experience for middle level officers and weapon familiarity for the grunts.
I do not support the whole hog transformation of the entire NA into a COIN army, just as I do not think it is a good idea to have a Navy of fisheries protection boats and tame OPVs. The NAF definitively needs its SU- 30s and JF-17s as much as Super Tucano and ALCA (that I am even beginning to suspect there won’t be money to buy anyway).
Finally Nigeria needs to develop structures for the performance management of its military institutions. Obj dumped the country punitively into the hands of the two most unprepared people in the world for his own personal (cruel) reasons. The first one had health challenges and the second one the VP (now president) is challenged in most areas of visioning and leadership. The only hope is to have strong Ministers of defence and also empower the legislative committees with tough and nasty but patriotic people who will ask the necessary tough questions, drag out the facts and proffer solutions without fear.
*errect boundaries*
while you are talking see Nigerian Territory ooooo
Some people would not go home for charismas
Oga Martin Luther. I respect your hustle.
Nigerian territory? and how do you glean that from the video?
What a question?.
Ok. This is Martian territory then. The APCs and Technicals we see in the video are from the Milky Way Galactic command. The stolen NA uniforms that BH fighters are wearing come from planet Venus.
ROTFL***
Oga Mcshegz, is living in an alternate universe.
Boss, you do know it is this carpet denial that led us to this embarrassing point in the first place.
Oga Are James, Oga Henry. I respect you hustle sirs.
The English language isn’t a very complicated one to grasp, if only we take time to understand what words mean given their context. Again, just in case you refused to read the question i posed but instead decided to read meaning into it, i said, Nigerian territory? and how do you glean that from the video? English 101, meaning; what in the video indicates, or proves specifically that this is Nigerian territory? this was my simple question, which our intergalactic Ogas refused to answer. Are there any landmarks? any signs that concretely proves this is Nigeria and nowhere else? can you prove from the video that the people shown are Nigerians, and cannot be from any other country. These are valid questions, i see no reason why some of us get all emotional and roused up even when logical points are posed. We need cool, calculated and level heads here, not rash and extreme mindsets alienated from reason. As for the allegation of carpet denial by Oga Henry, because i ask you to prove your insinuations, doesn’t imply denial, it’s just sensible, don’t you think? if that’s possible sir
And here are excerpts from Oga Are James describing bokoarerams as compared to Nigerians, please note the key word; obviously:
“His claim of 20 armored vehicles is obviously correct”
Oga Are James has no doubt that bokoarerams speak the truth! no questions needed
“The terrain in most of the video is obviously Gwoza area”
Oga Are James is a terrain expert and can confidently tell which terrain is which, in this case, from the video, he narrows the terrain down to Gwoza
“Boko Haram now has its Caliphate all thanks to the 419 ceasefire, NA cowardice (fuelled by rumours of bullet proof BH fighters) and sheer incompetence of generals” According to Oga Are James’s English, he has it on good authority that bokoarerams now have their caliphate, yada yada yada, he goes on with some other gibberish.
Now, should i conclude from this rant produced by Oga Are James that he/she stands solidly with bokoarerams? is it true? is it the fact? is it proven without a doubt? according to Oga Are James, is it obvious? is it irrefutable fact? just to be sure, for fairness sake, we’ll pose the question: Oga Are James, what side are you on, Nigeria’s or bokoarerams? and no, you are not from Mars, hehehehehe
I repeat, we do not need rash, extreme mindsets which are alienated from reason. Oga coolu tempa.
Oga McShegz, abeg rather than asking questions, please provide answers.
It furthers our knowledge if you could analyse and proffer conclusions from this video from your own perspective
Oga Peccavi. I respect your hustle sir.
Its a propaganda piece, i’m sure we all know that, but Oga, i respectfully disagree that we do not need questions, contrary, i believe some people assume too much rather than know for a fact, armed with proof. I cannot and will not claim to have all the answers, nobody does, but by asking seemingly innocuous questions, we begin to unravel this carefully woven web we find ourselves in. Attempting to solve a problem without truly grasping its nature will be futile. There are many alternate theories out there as to why nations are going through these trying times, ranging from the absurd to the seemingly probable. There is no doubt that Intelligence is in its abundance on this blog for example, and Nigeria in general as to how to rid this menace, though, i personally believe a military industrial complex is the way to go; war and its industry must be made profitable by the Nigerian government, only then can we be sure to never run out of the essential tools to prosecute this so called evil, anywhere it may be, proper research and analysis then becomes mandatory to know thy enemy and craft responses to such, because whether we like it or not, for as long as good exist, so too will evil, that’s basic. Nigeria, and her citizens have to understand that there is no shame in making money from fighting evil in the physical flesh, not just in the spirit. My grouse, as mentioned above is, do not assume, we have to know for a fact, because there have been reports of bokoarerams terrorizing Nigerian citizens in Gwoza recently, doesn’t mean that, this video is from there. Don’t play into a constructed narrative, without being willing to challenge it, that’s simply all i ask Oga. To answer your question Oga Peccavi, lolo, Nigerians must continue to envision ways to profit from this menace, because those who wreak havoc don’t do it just for the fun of it, they do it for profit, so, why cant the good guys make some pepe? which level
Oga mcshegz, it is propaganda and it is effective.
Because it shows, BH fighters in a town somewhere and the resurrected Shekau sitting peacefully in the town. They also have massed vehicles and armoured vehicles that came from somewhere. If bought or captured they are still in their possession.
Whether in Cameroun, Chad or Nigeria, they still have freedom of movement and operate in public in daylight without fear of retaliation.
So the question as to whether it is Nigeria or not is an interesting question but it does not change the reality that the enemy is within an urban area, and is comfortable and confident enough to display their key assets in daylight for propaganda/ local consumption.
Do not sell yourself short, you might not have all the answers but I would suggest nobody else does including the combatants, so feel free to give a concrete viewpoint that might help us to see the conflict from your point of view
fellow comrade mcshegz pls hw is our general doing hop he he has contacted .cos dis his silence is getting too much
Haaaaa!!!!
This is not good at all. The first 30 seconds is brand new equipment captured from or (donated) by the NA. His claim of 20 armoured vehicles is obviously correct but the painful one for me is the tens of brand new Hilux technicals being driven through out the footage.
Boko Haram now has its Caliphate all thanks to the 419 ceasefire, NA cowardice (fuelled by rumours of bullet proof BH fighters) and sheer incompetence of generals. How do you take territory back when you did not even buy enough ground attack jets?. And where are all the billions we spent?. The terrain in most of the video is obviously Gwoza area. The main concern is the systematic brainwashing and empowerment of even more young people by this blood thirsty group. Some resignations at DHQ would be in order for now.
When shall we get good news?
Nigerian Air Force Helicopter Crash Lands In Yola: http://www.channelstv.com/2014/11/10/nigerian-air-force-helicopter-crash-lands-yola/ Any idea which chopper has the call sign ‘Shark 23’ ?
Oga Obix. I respect your hustle.
It depends on what you call good news, its chronology and how it fits into your definition of the space/time continuum. Things that go up, come down ever so often, that’s not news Oga, it happens, how about we wait for the Air Force investigation panel. Seems like you jumped the gun sir with your good/bad news dichotomy. No casualty recorded, sounds like good news to me, don’t you think? You and I are alive today, sounds like good news too, or?
“Things that go up come down ever so often”. Now that is very funny.
You are right though. My attitude to air incidents is to see them as a consequence of increased air operations which is reassuring. The almighty US has recorded a number of incidents in the ramped up operations against ISIS for instance. As long as pilots and passengers are okay, no problem.
Oga mcshegz, Ya uvazhayau tvoyu suetu (I respect your hustle in Russian 🙂 )
Of cause this is another bad news in the backdrop of the recent loss/donation of equipment to BH. Thank God the pilots are safe.
http://odili.net/news/source/2014/nov/10/399.html
Let me add to the BAD NEWS
Let me also answer your question for you: Good news will be in short supply for A LONG TIME
These are the thingds most likely too happen ,
1) MUBI will IN ALL LIKELIHOOD still be in Enemy hands next week Monday, unless the F.G.N and the MILITARY leadership wake up. The CHIBOK girls are most likely too spend CHRISTMAS in Captivity.
2) With Money Flush from ransom and Bank robbery sources and DELIBERATE INACTION from the MILITARY sources BOKO HARAM does not even need to watch their rear end the Nigerian Soldier has been reduced to his worse Night mare that is standing pat cleaning their weapons and awaiting orders.
3) Boko Haram’s timetable is becoming very specific as to what they want to do Mubi will no longer Suffice .They are being handed opportunity after opportunity with no consequences , this is what they intend to do i will spell it OUT : Every Monday the first day of school THEY WILL BOMB A SCHOOL in the North East till they run out of dynamite then they will steal some more .
4) The F.G. and the inactive MILITARY that CANNOT , WILL NOT , SHALL NOT FIGHT will have to fight, I EXPECT BEFORE DECEMBER two very specific things to happen An attack on the capital of ADAMAWA STATE ( YOLA) because this is the prize. The second thing I do expect to happen is an attack on one of the three GOVERNORS of the North east the traditional rulers SHEU of BORNU, Emir of Gwoza, Emir of Mubi are all goals that have been accomplished.
5.Oga Peccavi there are two things that i respectfully disagree with you on.A. Everything we need to end this war is Available in Nigeria ONE OF THE THINGS NOT AVAILABLE IN Nigeria right now is the POLITICAL WILL and Military Leadership to end this war, LET ME EXPLAIN
Political will :The second largest city in ADAMAWA STATE was handed over to boko haram without a whimper to make matters worse the NAF by eye witness accounts was STILL FIGHTING WHILE THE army was busy scampering aware , the court martial should of lasted EXACTLY seven days and the most senior officers responsible should not be sitting confined to an officers mess they should of been shot. The PRESIDENT HIMSELF should of ordered his COAS either to personally recover Mubi himself or resign none of this has happened, because it is not that important
Military will : I AM GOING TO GO THERE TODAY. LT GEN MINIMAH is beginning to look very much like GEN MEADE who had over 70,000 troops parked in Washington during the American Civil war whom the President constantly begged to move forward BUT WOULD NOT COULD NOT AND ANYONE WHO DISSENTED GOT PROMOTED. This is where we are, Gentlemen brace yourselves it is going to get a lot worse before it gets better.
In conclusion I am holding my breath for Operation no Mercy to start, I am holding my Breath f or the tenure of this dreadful administration through the Legal CIVILIAN democratic process of an ELECTION TO COME TO AN END because this war is going to continue for a long time.
http://www.punchng.com/news/bharam-parades-captured-town-preaches-to-residents/
Constructive Criticism #7
Every Nigerian leaving Nigeria on an international flight ( plane) should pay a defense tax of $100.00 (N16,500.00). This money should be used to pay for PROCUREMENT and PROCUREMENT ALONE
Every Nigerian coming into Nigeria on an international flight should pay a defense welfare tax of $100 (N16,500.00).
Every Member of the NASS needs to donate 10% of their personal allowance + 10% of their personal salary to go to the internal displaced people (I.D.P.) of the three states.
They will chop everything. Money is not the problem. You don’t know the hidden enemy we face. It is mass selfishness. Self emancipation gone awry. How about Senators/Reps cutting their pay, allowances and constituency project ‘egunjes’ by 50% to about $500k/$300k a year?. That is still the highest in the world and will yield almost $300million a year. $300million is a squadron of SU 30s. Somebody is telling me I am not being patriotic for saying the truth. The mass selfishness we are talking about is the kind that makes nations weak. Believe me internal transformation is what we need first. Money is not the problem.
Agreed Are James. Money has never been our problem. If Ethiopia (lets forget about South Africa now), a country without oil or gas, constantly facing drought, second most populous country in Africa, a coffee exporter, a country awash with poverty; can maintain a robust military force and a couple of viable Military industrial complex without US assistance, I dont see why one of the largest oil and gas producer in the world with some of the brightest individuals on the continent, cannot simply manage to have just one competent force whether its army, navy or airforce, just one competent, well trained, well motivated, well equipped force. Its sad.
http://allafrica.com/stories/201411100846.html
Can anyone confirm this?
This one is looking more like sabotage. To take back Mubi it appears DNA has fallen upon the Police ATF and the few NA units that can be trusted at the current time.
*DHQ*
True or False, are American soldiers on our Mubi battlefield as military advisers?
“A military source said that the 40 US soldiers had shortly after their arrival in Nigeria visited Mararaba-Mubi on Sunday for an on the spot assessment of the insurgents’ activities in the area.
Another source said, “The helicopter took off from the airport in Yola and came down just a few metres from the state capital.
“They were five crew members, including four Americans, They all survived the crash. But those who were injured are being treated in the hospital.”
http://www.punchng.com/news/again-military-helicopter-crashes-in-adamawa/
Guys, play play this CIA prediction don dey turn true o n. Its remarkable the large expanse of territory that Boko Haram controls, they govern over half a million Nigerians in an expanse of land bigger than Togo. Gentlemen President Jonathan is yet to give us a comprehensive strategy and plan to defeat Boko Haram, instead his administration chooses to prioritise election campaigns and fundraising, and we wonder why the world couldn’t care less, why should they? Nigeria defeated Ebola in just 3 months with no foreign intervention, a feat even America is yet to achieve yet we still find it hard to come ip with a comprehensive strategy to defeat Boko Haram with all the assets at the disposal of the Nigerian military?
@Oje, I am as worried as you.
*Let me play @mcshegz a little with you here just for laughs*
” @Oje, I respect your hustle sir, but i have some questions for you. Have you measured the square kilometres of territory supposedly controlled by Boko? If you have not how did you come about your ‘..wide expanse of land..’. Also we would like to know how you came about your ‘..population under Boko..’ figures, did you do a census?. Please don’t fall for enemy propaganda, be patriotic and wait for DHQ statements, if none are forthcoming, pray. As for strategy I am sure our competent President and CDS have something up their sleeves but information can’t be released just like that.
He he he, reading through your post, I sense some agitation in your current make-up. Please don’t burst a vein, everything is under control and all territories will be recaptured in short order. As for the elections, what do you want us to do, shut down our democratic process because of terrorists?. I am sure even you my oga knows this would be handling Shekau an undeserved victory. As for CIA predictions, surely you dont believe the Americans?. The FG has reassured many times that this will not be the case and as patriots we should just go with that. A lot of issues you have raised are actually provoking some serious questions. Questions like; are you standing with Boko-Are-Rams or are you for Nigeria?”.
The only way to curb corruption and funds diversion in arms procurement is full transparency by public information. The $2 Billion FG is spending now should be fully accounted for to Nigerians on the pages of newspapers, we can even count bullets one by one, we are ready, give us a list of what you purchased as weapons for this war and tell us how many units of each. Simple.
I don’t worry about Mubi, one single T-84 Oplot-M tank or T-90SM tank will drive through Mubi town and demolish ALL those Boko Haram armoured vehicles and the Bokos will NOT be able to stop the tank.
No be large numbers of state-of the-art tanks Germany take conquer France? Abi?
Apparently not my brother. I am now believing that BH has reinforced with some experienced foreign fighters and thousands of other semi trained but suicidal fghters. There are reports all over cyber space of multiple ambushes and creative use of terrain. I also believe our use of armour should now be more of the high speed fire support in terms of tactics. No stationary or ambush prone slow movements. BH from the videos we see has loaded up on RPGs and they also want to entrap tanks to drive away so as to provide content for their videos in which case the tanks’ advanced self protection systems only work for the enemy.There are just too many of the enemy now and they are on a high. COIN aircraft including helicopters will make a big difference. The people who through omission or commission did not provide the NAF with enough precision strike CAS jets in time to reverse all these enemy gains are to blame for whatever embarrassment we are facing now and they deserve heavy sanctions from the Presidency.
Gentlemen officers, thanks for keeping this blog alive. Someone close to Gen Beeg should please update us on his welfare. His silence is deafening and worrisome! @Oga Augustine, useful info on the ambition of NAF re: JF-17 Thunder on the previous thread. Honestly, the only arm keeping hope alive in this war is the NAF, despite its weak orbat relative to the threat at hand. I think the NA (or is it DHQ) needs to identify one officer through whichever competitive process, and hand over overall command of this campaign to him the way Gen Khobe was handed the liberation of Freetown. Perhaps, Gen Zaruwa should get back his docket back. The man proved he knew what he was doing. Even if he is due for retirement, can’t it be delayed, seeing his tactical awareness and strategic vision? (Unless the General has chosen to retire on due date). Just my thoughts.
Which NAF ? NAF that you can’t call after 5pm ? Ground troops are really frustrated especially when triple A fire starts and you cant call for air support…
Has anyone asked and identified the helicopter that crashed in Yola yesterday ?
We need those Aerostar UAV’s fixed immediately because the info from the Americans is coming in trickles and most times too late.. our HUMINT and IMINT is really poor. The NSA needs to really change tactics and stop spending scarce resources on SIGNIT, we dont need it on the scale we are doing now…
I believe General Beeg is fine,there is total blackout on inside info about the NAF JF-17 Thunder,Sukhoi SU-27/30 Flanker fighter jets and the Super Tucano attack aircraft.
Oga Xnurr and Oga Solarex,how are we doing ?
Would the NAF actually go for Egyptian combat pilots to come and fly our combat helicopters and fighter jets ? Somebody should please tell us that it is not true!
Beegs is okay. T-Mobile. America’s First Nationwide 4G Network
Glad to hear oga Beegs is okay, thanks oga jimmy
http://www.vanguardngr.com/2014/11/students-teachers-relay-gory-tales-bloodbath-yobe/
Please can anyone confirm this
1) Are there American or Israeli soldiers in Nigeria ? or are there Advisers does anyone have a visual on Mubi?
2) We had the Helicopter crash yesterday with eyewitness accounts of Caucasian looking men emerging and the usual expected deathly silence from our tone deaf military.One must not deal in rumor but something is going on what it is right now is speculation but something is in the air.
http://www.punchng.com/news/again-military-helicopter-crashes-in-adamawa/
http://ngrguardiannews.com/news/national-news/186173-military-helicopter-crashes-in-adamawa-crew-members-safe
http://www.tribune.com.ng/news/top-stories/item/21212-nigerian-foreign-troops-begin-offensive-to-reclaim-adamawa-towns
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-30006066
At last the Nigerian Ambassador to the U.S. has spoken. I have spoken about the lack of political will that permeates the depths to depravity of both the main parties be it the apc or the pdp or fill in the blank as one of the main reasons why this conflict and it’s failures continue to emerge itself like a virus it will continue,
@ this stage the AMBASSADORS of Nigeria to the five most powerful nations on the Earth ( incidentally they all sit on the UN SECURITY Council) Britain, China, France, Russia and the U.S SHOULD BE SINGING THE SAME SONG REPEATEDLY but our Ambassadors are not proactive instead they are inward looking that is all.
Ken Sarowiwa’s Last Words
“My lord,
We all stand before history. I am a man of peace, of ideas. Appalled by the denigrating poverty of my people who live on a richly endowed land, distressed by their political marginalization and economic strangulation, angered by the devastation of their land, their ultimate heritage, anxious to preserve their right to life and to a decent living, and determined to usher to this country as a whole a fair and just democratic system which protects everyone and every ethnic group and gives us all a valid claim to human civilization, I have devoted my intellectual and material resources, my very life, to a cause in which I have total belief and from which I cannot be blackmailed or intimidated. I have no doubt at all about the ultimate success of my cause, no matter the trials and tribulations which I and those who believe with me may encounter on our journey. Neither imprisonment nor death can stop our ultimate victory.
I repeat that we all stand before history. I and my colleagues are not the only ones on trial. Shell is here on trial and it is as well that it is represented by counsel said to be holding a watching brief. The Company has, indeed, ducked this particular trial, but its day will surely come and the lessons learnt here may prove useful to it for there is no doubt in my mind that the ecological war that the Company has waged in the Delta will be called to question sooner than later and the crimes of that war be duly punished. The crime of the Company’s dirty wars against the Ogoni people will also be punished.
On trial also is the Nigerian nation, its present rulers and those who assist them. Any nation which can do to the weak and disadvantaged what the Nigerian nation has done to the Ogoni, loses a claim to independence and to freedom from outside influence. I am not one of those who shy away from protesting injustice and oppression, arguing that they are expected in a military regime. The military do not act alone. They are supported by a gaggle of politicians, lawyers, judges, academics and businessmen, all of them hiding under the claim that they are only doing their duty, men and women too afraid to wash their pants of urine.
We all stand on trial, my lord, for by our actions we have denigrated our Country and jeopardized the future of our children. As we subscribe to the sub-normal and accept double standards, as we lie and cheat openly, as we protect injustice and oppression, we empty our classrooms, denigrate our hospitals, fill our stomachs with hunger and elect to make ourselves the slaves of those who ascribe to higher standards, pursue the truth, and honour justice, freedom, and hard work. I predict that the scene here will be played and replayed by generations yet unborn. Some have already cast themselves in the role of villains, some are tragic victims, some still have a chance to redeem themselves. The choice is for each individual.
I predict that the denoument of the riddle of the Niger delta will soon come. The agenda is being set at this trial. Whether the peaceful ways I have favoured will prevail depends on what the oppressor decides, what signals it sends out to the waiting public.
In my innocence of the false charges I face Here, in my utter conviction, I call upon the Ogoni people, the peoples of the Niger delta, and the oppressed ethnic minorities of Nigeria to stand up now and fight fearlessly and peacefully for their rights. History is on their side. God is on their side. For the Holy Quran says in Sura 42, verse 41: “All those that fight when oppressed incur no guilt, but Allah shall punish the oppressor.” Come the day.
Kenule Beeson Saro-Wiwa
Those where his last words”
This is the story of the Nigeria you expect me to die for?
You want me to die for injustice abi?
Any change since we all realized that the is gross injustice in the land?
And what has any of you done in your own capacity?
Watching the last videos of BH, we could see the wide use of NA camouflage vehicles (numbering well up to 30s) it also showed them massing up in their hundreds and joyriding. (NAF, no where to be seen) They even had a Proforce APC. [tracking devices unavailable]
Estimates of the terrorists in that video runs into a thousand more or less.
Looks like there’s also a level of grassroots support judging from the locals in the video.
Nothing spectacular about them. Mostly ak47s, few armed technicals but very mobile.
My evaluation of current situation; one step forward, three steps backward.
Keep this video in mind and then think of DHQ with generals in ten-car convoys, it’s bullet proof BMWs now, flags fluttering in the wind, big egos, zero iq…all vanity.
Inside Aso Rock you have some sleazy but low mentality gentlemen plotting grand larceny and how to remain in power in a country being progressively taken from them by a complete nutcase. Did you see Shekau’s’ face in the video?. That demon is actually governing over human beings like me and you as we speak. This is the problem and this is why people like us get angry when people try to paper over the problem or throw the official line out there without even thinking about the great danger we are in. Right or left, Nigeria is being screwed. You don’t know which road to take, long term suffering or complete utter destruction.
The APC actually looked more like a Steyr APC to me. It was tracked, i havent seen any proforce model on tracks.
Oga Kay, what Proforce APC? Can you share the model?
I’m talking about what looks like a Police issue apc at about 36 minutes into the video.
Apologise anyway… its a Streit Spartan MK II. Thought was a PF 2 at first
Besides BH increasingly churned out videos serves a more sinister purpose. They are clearly trying to cosy up to terror groups for support vis their constant media prostituting to IS and paying homage to their far flung shitbag cousins. So far, they’ve only gotten limited support. But it’ll be scaled up the moment one of the leader draws the attention of hordes of jihadi tourists to Nigeria hence why this is driving me nuts.
The earlier the backends to these conflict are secured (border crossings and all) the better. Whatever happened to the multi national coordinated offensives?
I repeat, drive T-84 Oplot-M tanks or T-90SM tanks around Mubi and destroy every Boko Haram armoured vehicle and men, nothing will harm the T-84 or T-90 composite armour, it is impregnable to most anti-tank guided missiles and all HEAT shells, RPG is a toy, technicals with ZSU-23 is a joke.
$4 million will get Nigerian army one T-84M or T-90SM, one single day oil & gas revenue of $200 million will get us 50 of those tanks from Russia or Ukraine, Boko Haram will then leave us alone.
Make sure you are the one driving the tank abeg.
Oga Peccavi why me sir? Surely we have Nigerian army armoured division to drive new tanks.
Oga Augustine, an RPG, fired at proximity, can burn through 12 inches of steel.
that means, any man made Tank is vulnerable.
ERAs can provide protection, but newer RPGs with Tandem warheads can defeat ERAs.
Cage or Slat armor can also defeat the traditional RPG design, but is again, neutralized by newer Rpgs with Tandem warheads.
The tactics of the Tank personell , and the infantry accompanying it, is what determines the survivability of an MBT such as the OPLOT.
Every tank can be defeated. If you drive a tank unsupported into an urban environment unsupported it will be defeated
As the Russians found out (to their doom) in the first Chechnya war
Boko Harams Dry Season Offensive- Phases 1 and 2
It is apparent that Boko Haram has once more recovered from its reverses and seized the initiative to again launch a new offensive. It is still unclear as to what their overall objective is however we can see that once more they have displayed a similar pattern to the Ramadan Offensive immediately previous.
It is unclear if this offensive was meant to be a distinct campaign or just another phase of the original Ramadan Offensive however it is the opinion of this commentator that the first phase of the campaign has been completed and the second is underway and nearing completion
1. Preparation of the Battlespace:
There appear to have been 5 key preparatory actions.
Finance: Boko Haram normal fund raising through illegal taxation and theft was very generously supplemented by £387,000 (N103m) from the Chinese and Camerounian governments. It is hard to quantify the amount generated by internally generated criminality but it is but one can consider that the proceeds seems to maintain daily expenses, while the ransoms appear to support large capital expenses
Logistics: Poorly disciplined and poorly led Nigerian and Camerounian forces have in the course of this conflict abandoned intact large amounts of equipment, ammunition and weaponry including armoured vehicles, utility vehicles, generators, clothing, boots, fuel, food, medicines and other supplies. This extremely poor practice has given Boko Haram more weaponry than they could conceivably buy or transport across the Sahel. All of which is supplemented by Boko Harams own logistics efforts through the Sahelian smuggling routes.
Manpower: Recruitment through proselytizing, forced conscription and mercenaries appears to have replenished the ranks of Boko Haram that were diminished by the fighting and then the failed battles of Konduga and Fotokol. More crucial than the replenished cannon fodder has been the release of key commanders and logisticians by the Camerounians and the large number of experienced junior commanders and experienced mercenary commanders and weapons specialists, attracted to the large booty Boko Haram seems to inevitably collect as well as their run of victories.
Defence: despite the failure of the Ramadan Offensive to capture, raid or cut off Maiduguri, Boko Haram has successfully defended its captured areas not just from recapture but from any serious penetration or harassment. By defining this defended space, they have been able to secure their lines of communications, embed themselves into the local population, resupply and familiarise themselves with the local terrain.
Ceasefire: it is unclear whether the ceasefire negotiation was a genuine attempt to negotiate by a faction of Boko Haram or a ruse to deceive the Federal Government or an elaborate confidence trick or a deliberate false flag operation by a foreign power. It is indisputable that its outcome was an overwhelming physical and moral success for Boko Haram. The morale of Nigerian forces buoyed by recent victories interrupted by the ceasefire seemed to go from scepticism to despondency and hopelessness as an entire Brigade abandoning a town with barely a fight is indicative of not just poor leadership but poor morale. The resultant video denying the ceasefire and stating the GGSS Chibok abductees had been married off was not just a public humiliation for the Government but a deeply depressing outcome for the public. Physically the unilateral ceasefire prevented Nigerian forces from performing any offensive air or ground operations, thus allowing Boko Haram the space to prepare and assemble for their offensive.
2. Shaping the Battlespace
It is the opinion of this commentator that we are currently in the ‘Shape’ phase of the enemy campaign.
The past 4 weeks have been characterised by several key incidents
Urban terrorism: there have been IED attacks in Gombe and Yobe. This indicates that a cell has been activated in these areas that has made good use of the safe areas defined in the previous Ramadan offensive. These attacks have limited operational utility beyond terror but absorb huge resources from the security and police forces to reduce freedom of movement and track down the cells responsible, thus reducing the combat power available in the area of operations.
Raids: there have been a large number of raids on towns and villages which seek to gather recruits and supplies and wear down the security forces in places such as Ashaka, Nafada in Yobe, Gombe, Bauchi and Borno State. In fact some accounts suggests that the capture of Mubi was actually a raid that achieved success that was far out of proportion to its capability
Deliberate Attacks: there have been sustained deliberate attacks to the north and south of the area of operations
To the North, sustained motorised battalion sized attack on Abadam and Malam Fatori by the Nigerien border have achieved success. While to the south, the attack and capture of Mubi sets the stage for a series of attacks further south towards Yola and the Border, securing towns that control access to the Mandara Mountains such as Maiha.
3. Analysis:
The enemy has successfully completed its preparations for this offensive and is currently shaping the battlespace for its main effort.
The raids and urban terror attacks fit the previous pattern of distracting and disrupting friendly forces and forcing them to disperse forces to defend far flung locations. This shapes the battle space by preventing friendly forces from concentrating for counter attacks and overwhelms friendly resources by crating panic and IDPs as well as depressing civilian and military morale with an impression of an invincible enemy who can strike anywhere at will.
The initial assessment is that this phase is seeking to define an ungoverned space along the Nigerien border just like there is along the Camerounian border. With the Chadians becoming more proactive it is possible the enemy wish to develop new lines of communications to the west of Lake Chad. The actions in Abadam and Malam Fatori protects the enemy’s northern flank and secures their smuggling routes in the vicinity of Lake Chad, it also seeks to isolate Baga, making it difficult if not untenable as a base of operations for the new MNJTF. Enemy actions to the south once again consolidate their hold on the Mandara Montains and the border region making it harder to launch and sustain a counter offensive.
4. Conclusion:
The enemy might seek to threaten key cities again but as before it is unlikely they have the capability to physically take or hold cities the size of Yola, Damaturu or Maiduguri but by threatening them, they force friendly forces to concentrate their strength in and around these major population centres, leaving the rural areas and lines of communication vulnerable.
Boko Haram does not need to waste its strength attacking cities when it can fight on ground favourable to it instead.
There is still time for the Federal Government to bring extra battalions from beyond the AO and begin a counter offensive, either to the north around Lake Chad or south around Mubi. Passively waiting for Boko Haram to move to the next phase of their campaign is a definite path to defeat.
Oga Peccavi
Thank you very much for your Analysis, Before i get into what i want to say let me say this first to OGA AUGUSTINE : Every tank has a vulnerable sweet spot that a well trained battle hardened soldier can find with an rpg or an ant tank missile. Recently in the document : Thunder run THE Americans disclosed that yes their heaviest and most potent tank THE M1 ABRAMS was disabled by none other than an rpg7 ” which hit a lucky shot” bottom line was it was disabled and if it had not been in a convoy of other tanks and Bradleys the crew would of been wiped out.
This summer we saw what is regarded as the heaviest tank in the world @ 65 tons the Merkava suffer some of its worst losses in 2014 due to ambushes by Hamas personnel on foot so Oga Augustine Yes we want the tanks but we want to use them effectively not donate them to the Boko haram.
oga Peccavi in one of my previous emails i drew your attention to the most glaring thing wrong with this war the lack of political and military will, since you are not a politician but at least an ex grunt ( no offense), I am beginning to have serious reservations about the current COAS in terms of his actions, say what you may about his predecessor LT GEN Ihejirika the army then appeared to be on a constant attacking mode, were mistakes made back then sure but right the army is in a very passive mode.
The implications of Mubi if it is not retaken are really very grave. what it means is that the capital of ADAMAWA can be taken BY A BOKO HARAM FORCE OF 300 MEN ( THIS IS WHERE WE DISAGREE) and the army will sit passive. i am not saying they should rush headlong on a stupid frontal assault to retake MUBI no this what I am saying nightly raids into MUBI TO KIDNAP KEY COMMANDERS SHOULD OF BEEN TAKING PLACE BY NOW, ON A DAILY HARASSING BASIS , ISR flights on a daily basis should of been taking place, all we are hearing is them say , them say from unverified sources http://www.tribune.com.ng/news/top-stories/item/21212-nigerian-foreign-troops-begin-offensive-to-reclaim-adamawa-towns
which may be comforting to some it is not verifiable, It just seems the order to attack will not be given till every goddamn things is put in order, you know life is not life is not like that , and while the NA specifically is taking it’s sweet time bh is already planning it’s next move.
From all reports that have been verified ( sabon gari biu IN DAMBOA the original task force of a typical boko haram force consists of between 40 -60 personnel based on what happens then the main body of between 100- 200 personnel is brought to the fore. This should not defeat a well trained, well disciplined force unfortunately this happened be it in Nigeria ( at least we fess up) or Cameroon ( DENIAL is not the name of the longest river in the world). We now have verified reports of A LT. COL NOT EVEN BOTHERING TO SET THEIR BASE ALIGHT something any high school science student can do within five minutes .I honestly would like to call it sabotage because it would be soothing , however the true is more bitter it has more to do with incompetence.
I PRAY THE POWERS THAT BE LISTEN TO WHAT YOU HAVE WRITTEN AND ACT ON IT because based on what they have been doing and acting on it has been disastrous. I shouted till i was hoarse that there was no goddam ceasefire and publicly rebuked the CDS AND HIS THREE SERVICE CHIEFS , however it took boko haram to actually burn down his personal house for him to realize his mistakes let us hope he learns from them because time is running out, it is the opinion of this uneducated non serving military man that severe fighting will take place starting from the last weeks of November through January and unfortunately the Nigerian army if care is not taken will fighting on boko haram terms.
God bless Nigeria. Amen
Oga jimmy, Sir, I know there have been very very few lucky hits to penetrate the armour of these 3rd generation composite armour main battle tanks, but one out of a thousand is negligible probability.
The Americans found it very hard to destroy the Abrams tanks composite armour by deliberate effort with missiles.
You need to use the best and latest anti-tank missiles or rare depleted uranium shells which most armies in the world do not have, talk less of Boko Haram penetrating T-84 or T-90, please let us focus on the standard universal rule rather than the very rare occurrence exception.
I am telling us what USA, Russia, Israel, Algeria, Egypt, etc will do if Boko Haram captures a city in those countries, they will simply drive in T-90 class of tanks and terminate/eliminate/decimate everything called Boko Haram armour, cannon, anti-aircraft gun, technical, toyota, men and machines.
That is what is called OVERWHELMING FORCE in battle, Nigerian can decide to keep fighting this war at the same ancient equipment level countries of West Africa will fight it, if that is what we want.
My own 2 kobo, sirs and ogas.
God bless you again Oga Peccavi, I want Nigerian government and military chiefs of staff to read and study your above battle theatre analysis. Thanks
hmm someone/ some people reading beegs blog coincidence?
http://odili.net/news/source/2014/nov/11/525.html
All Arewa land governors and local government chairmen should condemn Boko Haram on radio round the clock in local languages and discourage youths from joining Bokos to fight.
Newspaper talk is only for office workers in Abuja and Lagos to read, the message does not get to the grassroots that way, Boko is stronger at the grassroot level, our Arewa leaders should tackle the problem from there, same way President Jonathan went to grassroots on canoe in Niger Delta creeks to talk to militants and end the insurgency there.
Africans should learn know how to do things EFFECTIVELY, it is the bane if our black race, lets overcome it.
After all the Arewa land governors and local government chairmen condemn bh round the clock as you suggest, will you give them protection?
Peccavi, you have come again with your 10 page conjectural analysis you force us to read. Please can anyone give word on the whereabout of Oga Beeg? Has he been kidnapped by SSS? In China bloggers are arrested sometimes.
@Oga Oje, abeg make you no begin vex again oooo 🙂 I’m sure all is well with Beeg.
BH is taking the initiative, there was a November Push in the NE but it is by BH
How our government could have fallen for the ruse of a “cease fire deal” is beyond me, what a clever bit of subterfuge by Chad and Cameroon to delay our final offensive and buy Boko Haram-controlled more time. Now we are even worse of than before, Boko Haram-controlled controls over 21 towns, can you freaking imagine that?
Yes I can
Nigerian government fell for the botched ceasefire deal for the sake of the 200 Chibok girls, my guess. Well, now looks like we have to fight to get the girls by force with risk of casualties, so sad.
Boko Haram is not holding any important town, and hell, they are surrounded by 177 million Nigerians, 500,000 policemen, and 200,000 military men with new and modern equipment arriving from new weapons importation.
All Nigeria needs is to do the right thing at the right time, Boko Haram will perish and the next result will be suicide bombings, sporadic and in diverse locations.
Unverified reports coming out of Mubi say the Nigerian Police Force Mobile and Anti-terrorist Units are spearheading the assault against BH in Adamawa State using tear gas to disorient the insurgents before the NA moves in for the final kill.Same tactics have been used by the Mopol outside Gwoza and it is working well!
Good innovation. Nobody can aim a rifle effectively in a gassed atmosphere.
oga gbash
Please keep us updated it is amazing what a little willpower with a little can- do- spirit can do. 🙂
Oohh for some clarity and transparency. On one hand we hear that Maiha 20km from Mubi has fallen as at monday, now this. I no go lie, its great to finally get some good news, i only hope its true.
Meanwhile what are the SF teams doing, what happened to aggressive small unit raids to keep BH unsettled. Where do they park their technicals at night (Am sure the police have contacts in the town who can give us this info since not all civilians have left)? Can’t teams of (well armed) 10-15 men infiltrating the lines at night identify and destroy them/inflict casualties on the enemy over the next 2 weeks on a nightly basis to prepare for the main offensive? Lest we forget, the advantages of a guerrilla force is that they dont hold ground. Now that they have chosen to hold ground, they are as vulnerable as we are. Why not hit them from different directions, supply lines etc.
Such forays would also furnish valuable intelligence for the main offensive.
Indeed small teams infiltrating into Mubi can act as spotters for artillery or air strikes on high value points e.g. technical parks, troop sleeping quarters, command posts, supply depots for their ammo etc.
If we dont have Oplot Tanks, have we also lost the ability to think/innovate? Have we also lost any vestiges of shame/prestige? Military high command, make we wake up now!!!! We cant be postponing any operational initiatives to when the long awaited arms arrive!!!
@Gen Ozed. How SF teams are now doing garrison work as well as protection detail (carrying oga / madam’s bag).
http://www.vanguardngr.com/2014/11/crossed-line-us-admits-un-anti-torture-body/
hmmm……
http://www.tribune.com.ng/news/news-headlines/item/21289-air-force-promotes-16-commodores-to-air-vice-marshals
I remember 21/2 to 3 yrs ago, I warned of what would happen when BH adopted Technicals, and NA did not adopt effective, proven ways of neutralizing them.
I said, from my longtime observation of NA in combat, we have never been able to deal with rebels with this level of sophistication.
MEND had their technicals, except their AAAs were mounted on speed boats rather than trucks. In the swamps of the niger delta, tributaries, doubled for roads.
Anyway, I said towns and NA military bases will fall in the wake of BH in technicals.
Today, they control damn near 3 states, plus Tanks, APCs,Artillery and NA 4x4s which they have appropriately coverted into technicals ( Implored the NA to tear of those welded roofs and chairs, and mount any AAA they could find. )
Some bloggers would like to belittle the accuracy of my analysis, rather than acknowledge them.
I have persistently said that NA would turn this war around, with embedded military advisers in the form of PMCs, or friendly nations.
Some are now saying NA already has done so. This is patently false.
NA has definitely engaged trainers, both PMC and nation to nation training. BUT Their is a difference.
An adviser is a trainer that embeds with the troops and advises on day to day tactics, he influences the troops thru a mentor/ mentee relationship.
this is way more effective than foreign military training. The expertise and the experience of the adviser team is felt on the battle space immediately.
They are essentially engaged intellectually, but are NOT trigger pullers.
This is what colonel Eeben did with the UPDF. This is what the Americans are doing now in Iraq.
NA has nothing comparable going on.
As for the rumored 40 US advisers, they are most likely privates i.e PMCs.
Remember the US always publicly announces their insertion of advisers.
They announced when they sent 100 green berets to help find Kony. And they are also announcing their moves in Iraq.
So it follows that they would announce it, if they had sent 40 troops to advise NA.
So any foreign presence is most likely private.
At the time of my warning, BH was still a motor cycle gang hurling home made bombs.
@Gen Doziex. Sorry to sound like a bad NTA soundbite, BUT PMC’s are not the solution. Even if we hire Blackwater (abi na x-force be the mercenaries current name), plus 2 brigades of Sri-Lanka and Algerian vets, the results would still be the same (or even worse) provided our poli-THIEFcians lack the will power to win this war. WE are right now where the American military was during the Vietnam war, the political class going out of their way to ensure a military defeat.
http://www.punchng.com/news/cds-service-chiefs-appear-before-senate-on-thurs/
I wonder what the three chiefs will tell the senate about MUBI
Q1.why is Mubi still in boko haram hands
Q.2 when can we expect it to be part of Nigeria
Q.3 why are soldiers including SENIOR OFFICERS u p to the rank of LT COL fleeing from the scene of a battle
Q.4. What exactly is it that the ARMY and airforce needs to win this war?
Q.5 Why were two of the best Battle hardened Generals even before the DECEMBER period?
Constructive Critique #8
Out of the Lake Chad area should be formed A SEMI commando Battalion of 500 men they need to be independent and have their own separate equipment their number t ask is to trail and eliminate convoys of boko haram coming across the border from Chad.
Constructive Critique #9
Let us make Idris get well Chadian Nationals that are captured specifically fighting and killing for boko haram should be treated as Mercenaries with the mandate of the UN with regards to Mercs. The political will OF THE F.G. NEEDS TO WAKE UP.
Sobering moments they died so we could live:
(Courtesy Abiyamo)
http://www.naijarchives.com./soldiers-killedby- boko-haram
They belong to the ages now. R.I.P
http://www.punchng.com/news/female-bomber-attacks-niger-college/
MAHIA it appears is for all intents and purposes back in the locals hands. Another newspaper is stating there were heavy casualties on both sides with boko haram suffering heavier casualties causing them to WITHDRAW from Mahia anyway read between the lines and draw your own intelligent conclusions it does appear on the suffer to at least be good news.
In a speech made public on Tuesday, ambassador Adebowale Adefuye appeared to have taken US officials by surprise when he launched into a tirade against the US administration.
Nigerian leaders were “not satisfied with the scope, nature and content of the United States’ support for us in our struggle against terrorists”, Adefuye said.
He accused Washington of not providing the “lethal” weapons needed to deliver “a killer punch” to the militants.
But State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki shot back that the US had “provided and approved sales of military equipment to its armed forces”.
“These decisions are made, of course, after careful scrutiny to ensure they conform with United States law.”
But she acknowledged the US had refused to transfer some Cobra helicopters due to concerns about the Nigerian army’s ability to use them.
There were also “ongoing concerns about the Nigerian military’s protection of civilians when conducting military operations”, Psaki said, adding these had been discussed with the Nigerian authorities.
Adefuye told members of the Council on Foreign Relations on Monday that allegations of human rights abuses by the military were “rumours, hearsays and exaggerated accounts” put about by rivals of President Goodluck Jonathan and rights groups.
But Psaki stressed the US would not raise such concerns “if we didn’t feel and others didn’t feel that they were warranted”.
Washington was ready to help Nigeria train and improve the effectiveness of its military, Psaki added, urging the government to investigate allegations of abuses. – Sapa-AFP
http://www.iol.co.za/news/africa/us-hits-back-after-nigeria-s-criticism-1.1779630?#.VGR2J4Kk_g8
America, why do you betray those who align with you in the name of human rights violations? I see now why former allies are aligning with China and Russia. This will never happen in a Republican administration. Shame on you America, your so called WAR on terror is a farce, Obama is worse than Carter. For the first time in 50 years the most powerful man in the world has not been an American but a Russian president president. Good people, rich country, high tech society, dumb clueless naive leaders.
The social media is at buzz with chatter about communities raising to defend themselves
Believe me this is not good for Nigeria. The fat cat lazy generals may breathe a sigh of relief but I tell you no country with intelligent people in government allows its citizens to empower themselves this way. No government should devalue itself with this kind of demystification. This is very annoying.
What bokoharam has done is likened with an eradication of Christians from the Northeast of Nigeria
Look at statistics and find out communities where President Jonathan got his highest votes from the Northeast and you may find a trend of attacks through from 2013
Those communities that are waiting for the Nigerian Military to defend them may as well start moving into IDP camps
Latest information says Mubi has fallen to hunters
The northern governors said something ominous last week to the effect that Boko Haram will be no more by December. This was not said fully in the same context as cooperating with the Nigerian military to do that job. Somebody in the presidency should start thinking.
https://nigeriantimes.ng/news/jtf-recovers-mubi-as-boko-haram-members-flee/
Before we celebrate let us hear from another medium besides Premium times their news reporting has been and needs to be subject to verification. But if it is true this is some good news to what has been a truly awful week. So far the military specifically the dhq has kept quiet, which gives me pause.
What is this obsession with buying Western\US equipment especially in the context that we have never fielded this in significant quantities? Does support for the Nigerian military have to equate support for this administration?
Over the last 4 years, many of the individuals on this blog have been clamouring for the military to be suitably for the Air force to purchase fighter jets, for the Navy to buy OPVS, and for significant upgrades to our armour.
Has any of this happened?…No. Instead we have a situation where the country is broke at the sharp end of an insurgency a couple of months before a general election, and an administration that is so shameless as to point fingers at another country’s government. I dont know why the military has been unable to contain Boko Haram, but I am not buying all the explanations proffered so far.
It was the lies I particularly found distasteful. Nigeria has never used lethal American equipment before so why frame the story as if the country was under some newly imposed un announced sanctions. We placed an emergency order for Cobras but we dont have the pilots or operational infrastructure meaning we would have used PMCs in the short term. We use PMCs and all kinds of torch are shone on the war in the northeast, civilians get hurt or financial corruption higgy haga happens and a sitting US administration starts getting flak from its press. On the technical side alone, if half trained pilots start crashing the choppers, American defence products start getting a bad rep internationally, all sorts of risk management issues enough to blow alarms in the US government.
From a media release by the ENDS organisation headed by Dr. Peregrino Brimah, it is stated that a local warrior leader has vowed and is recruiting forces of volunteers to defeat Boko Haram terrorists and liberate the captured northeast of Nigeria.
From the article:
The Rabih Azzubair Ibn Fadlallah People’s Resistance Front
We have received reports and a direct message of/from a northern citizen army led by a civilian warrior leader who goes by the legendary name, “Rabih Azzubair,” that is promising that his People’s Resistance Front is arraigning itself in the Adamawa plateaus and preparing to combat the terrorists head-to-head and declares that any messenger of the Jonathan government, civilian or military that stands in the way of his mission to liberate the people of the northeast will also become his army’s sworn enemy. We hope and pray this is true and call on all living youth in the northeast and across Nigeria to support and join up with this resistance patriot’s army immediately.
Read more: http://newsrescue.com/local-warrior-leader-rabih-azzubair-vows-defeat-boko-haram-liberate-northeast-nigeria/#ixzz3IyQIGC9e
Very dangerous stuff.
Yeah, our special forces and intel guys should supervise, pay, arm and control these guys, or else they would grow into a Frankenstein monster.
Same mistake was made in Liberia. NA created opposition to taylor, armed them, but failed to control them.
We were lucky in sierra leone, not to lose control of the Kamajors.
We never had control, they just didn’t turn against us.
Nigerian pilots have been training in American institutions, why shouldn’t they be able to fly the Cobra’s if acquisition was proposed. American personnel are on ground in Nigeria. They refuse to share HUMINT and ELINT Intel with our forces because they fear our armed forces have been compromised by moles. It’s interesting what’s happening. Nigeria is practically the only country on Earth today fighting an Terrorist insurgency alone with little foreign support, yet this country has not fallen or risk falling like you see in Iraq, Syria, A – Stan, Mali, CAR just to name a few. In the midst of a bitter 5 year war of attrition another front was opened by the Ebola pandemic, again a State of emergency was declared and a new breed of soldiers (doctors) were tasked to confront this latest threat head on. Without no outside help Nigeria was able to defeat Ebola on her own terms. No country in Africa can achieve this or be ever resilient. We are not getting billions in aid like Egypt or Iraq. In the light of Nigeria being abandoned to her faith by the global community it is only fair that whatever request our president makes to purchase arms from our supposed ally be granted. Saudi a Arabia has far more human rights abuse than Nigeria, that doesn’t stop the Americans from selling hardware to the dictatorship.
I believe we shall persevere. We are not conquered, our time will come. Africa’s time will come. Someday.
The sense of entitlement is what I don’t like. This is the first time I am hearing a buyer ‘carrying placards’ inside a market to protest not being sold to in that market that has other sellers. Were we not going to pay for the choppers?. I think the noose is going to attract international ridicule. More damagingly it is going to weaken our hand with the Russians when they come to know we have come to them as last resort and have nowhere else to go.. The whole this sounds childish and I suspect there is more of hiding failure in it. Granted the Cobras would have been a good buy but it had always looked more attractive as a medium term measure because of NAF’s only recent bad record in accident free induction and routinely flying new aircraft – even for a chopper whose manufacturer makes Nigeria’s popular civil workhouses chopper.
*noise*
*thing*
*workhorse*
Personally Ido not think the us ever too k Nigeria SERIOUS ABOUT buying any weapons. This is a President who has gone out of his way to prove even to some of his most ardent SUPPORTERS THAT HE IS NOT serious.
America LOVES MONEY and this human rights issue is bullshit i f Nigeria had offered America $1b CASH UP FRONT those boko harams in gwoza will be bunk bed brothers with Gadaffi by now courtesy of those cobras.
Look AT THE PACE AT WHICH WE ARE BUYING THINGS EVEN FROM Russia we NEED 12 night flying helicopters we bought……3? maybe FOUR. We need at least 100 T90 TANKS ……so far no t90s, t72 have been spotted alas we have spotted plenty of strieit apcs……. we need a squadron of JF -17……. So far we have photos.
As this war continues to drag on and the impatience of the Nigerians through the social media gets louder the people in power will predictably start to panic. This is what is happening.
Please we should remember it took the iraqis one week to get their planes from Russia we still dey take photo.
http://www.vanguardngr.com/2014/11/boko-haram-lost-territories-will-reclaimed-army/
The service chiefs need to get their act together. One of the things the Hon George Sekibo did was not to mince words. These service chiefs may not realize it but passivity creates a very dangerous vacuum on both the civilian side ( Senate panel may recommend to the President for them to be FIRED) or the growth of Right wing groups consisting of ex soldiers/ hunters from the Areas under boko HARAM’S control they will have no qualms about getting their hands dirty.
BEEGS favorite saying is ‘ Nature abhors a vacuum well we will wait and see.
LT GEN Kenneth Minimah Please do not let your Entire 33/ 34 Military career be described by two words : Mubi and Gwoza. Please retake these towns.
Thank you
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-30043867
Oga Martin Luther
It appears you OWN THE SCOOP on this one . CONGRATS. One interesting note what type of fighting went on. We have advocated Night fighting to reduce collateral damage. Interesting that the traditional hunters felt the same way , can anyone smell a template?
Information still note clear as to what is happening, they information form the ground has gone dead
http://www.punchng.com/news/boko-haram-flees-as-soldiers-hunters-storm-mubi/
We will wait for the pictures but the exact mention of the emir of mubi whose son was beheaded is beginning to bear credence to the report. I AM CAUTIOUS BUT THE MENTION OF THE CAPTURE OF THE APC DOES BEAR NOTING a tie that heavy fighting took place at night. AGAIN WE WAIT ON THE PLODDING DHQ.
These are indeed dangerous times.
The military is coming across as comical in all of this. Can you imagine what will happen if Jonathan loses the next elections, and the Niger Delta boys believe that he was stampeded out.
These armed Forces who are struggling with an insurrection in the North East, How would they handle a simultaneous insurrection in the oilfields???
These times call for prayer from everyone who loves this Country. May America’s predictions not come to pass!!! Ameeee oooh.
The first confirmation that there was actually a proposed Cobra purchase
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/dpb/2014/11/233963.htm#NIGERIA
I struggle to see how Cobras would have prevented the fall of Mubi Damboa or Gwoza sha
Conceivably Gwoza or Mubi would probably have not happened in the first place if we had the Cobras for quick reaction. Hmmmm, actually this is not entirely true because we always had MI 24/35 which were never really bought in enough numbers or provided with enough pilots until recently to make any difference to any war. However, let us just assume that the FG was right about the impact it would have made to the war, the US was still right withholding authorization for the choppers because as previously discussed on this blog for aircraft systems acquisition you are not just buying a weapon system, you are actually acquiring a capability. Pilot training, maintenance and weapon delivery skills are preferably packaged with the aircraft procurement and a sustainability plan for the long term should have been provided so that the manufacturer knows what level and type of support he needs to provide for the lifecycle.
I am not sure this deal was framed to target the other domains of that capability matrix and the Americans must have seized on that fact. After all, they were not really willing to sell the stuff anyway. You can’t just package a defence contract that says refurbish choppers and ship to Nigeria anymore these days.
I would advise the FG to mellow down on continued public references to this deal because it just might provoke retaliatory revelation of things you don’t want in the public space an the retaliation won’t even be on the choppers but from another unexpected area.
Peccavi, that link is 8 pages long. You like long things, why? Lol
Moment of Disclosure
Based on this Administration’s history ( nothing emotional I repeat i do not care whether the president is an apc or a pdp at this stage i do not give a damn whether he is Muslim , Christian, or a traditional worshiper Hausa, Ibo, Yoruba or born on the border between Cameroon and Nigeria ,
I honestly do not see where the sale of the Cobras would of made a difference because based on eye witness testimony the NAF was reputed to of been the last man standing while elements of the 234 battalion shamefully fled. Hindsight is 20/20 . OGA P AND NO i am not jumping on your BANDWAGON work no gree man put down tory make man explain.
Now that we have heard the US side of the story these are my conclusions based on everything “she -said- he said”
It appears the lovely Ambassador Adefuye upset the apple cart of hypocrisy and the startled the State dept who were okay with this cozy arrangement at the end of a long winded briefing had to go our peculiar problem yes ” Africa”. America deep down knows “This administration has failed to pay the the price of admission to properly equip its armed forces since it returned to civilian rule the buck stopped with our good friend Olusegun Matthew Aremu Obasanjo who did his best to under equip them this was initially followed by GEJ whose schizophrenic way of equipping/ paying inflated prices and not having a solid government to government plan shrouded in secrecy will make even the most loyal Nigerian weep”.
Nigeria NEVER had any plans to buy forty planes from the US or Russia. THIS WAS IN THE EVIDENCE . A country that wants to buy planes will submit compelling evidence to buy the 40 planes? here are the numbers ( no emotions attached)
:For FORTY PLANES
Means at least 2 Pilots and two back ups that is 160 personnel right there to be trained in Russia or the US + at least 4 mechanics that is another 160 personnel.
The US cobra based on the unreliable WIKI costs $10.7 million so for exaggerated purposes for all 40 it would of costs + spares $428million + spares throw in another $42.8m that would net close to $456 m.Nigeria where was the money ?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell_AH-1_SuperCobra, I read the state department’s reply one thing that was constantly overlooked was the statement that the US did not believe Nigeria “due to concerns about the Nigeria’s military ability to use and maintain them”. my interpretation was that they believed deep down the self hating Nigerians would never part with $1/2 b without serious bribes and kickbacks and they did not want any part of that nonsense.
America on the other hand is playing a very dubious game of “see no evil hear no evil do no evil”. On one hand they want to be sanctimonious about helping Nigeria when at best the help is feeble to useless and hiding behind the human rights issue is becoming very boring when Saudi Arabia gives you $35b* (* This is documented evidence of the latest Military contracts between the US and Saudi Arabia) look the other way as the Pakistanis keep getting beheaded and other gross human rights keep flourishing in the desert kingdom.yes yes all 7000 prices are created equal but some are created more equal than others.Why on earth they want to continue with this charade is beyond me.
Let us go to Russia AND SAY IT COSTS HALF AS MUCH $280M. The Russians have practically begged us COME AND TELL US WHAT YOU WANT PAY FOR IT AND WE WILL DELIVER IT TO YOU JUST STAY OUT OUR OUR UKRAINE WAHALA.
So where are the SU27/ 30S? The squadron of mi-35s? that are badly needed on the yobe / mandara mountains axis where are they now?, so everything must be shrouded in secrecy even though it will be on you tube in the Ukraine the day after the sale.
This is the moral of the story:
The F.G wanted to buy a house in LEKKI or BANANA ISLAND he was told the price and told you know fit do am, he then went to all the way to VICTORIA ISLAND angrily shouting “it is because I am Nigerian” Again he was quietly rebuffed, sufficiently humbled he settled for a place in IKORODU a place just outside Lagos.
YOLA, Nigeria Nov 14 (Reuters) – A Nigerian military helicopter crashed and exploded on Thursday in the northeast region of the country where it is battling Boko Haram Islamist insurgents, witnesses and a security source told Reuters.
The security source in the capital Abuja, said there were some casualties but declined to give further details saying the Nigerian defence ministry would issue a statement later. The incident occurred, however, in an area where there were no immediate reports of combat or of Boko Haram activity….
…..It was the second Nigerian military helicopter to go down this week in Yola, in Adamawa State, after another, according to the defence ministry, made a forced landing shortly after takeoff.
Hey Ibrahim Ali a resident of Hayin Kada village near Yola, told Reuters they saw the helicopter hovering.
“Then later, we heard the sound of the helicopter suddenly changed, it started going down and then we heard a loud sound, followed by several explosions. So we started running into the bush,” Ali said by telephone.
http://www.trust.org/item/20141114114407-8gqjh/?
He said villagers went to the crash site on Friday morning and it was cordoned off by security officials..
Gentlemen officers, I’ve been AWOL due to pressing ‘operational’ matters but happy to return and see this community thriving, and why not? Its been good news from Mubi! @Augustine, I echo your respected view that northern leaders have to go vernacular with messages that can cower BH psychologically, re-assure our brothers and sisters out there and boost the morale of our military and the levee en mass (civilians taking up arms to defend their communities). They control the state radio stations so what’s holding them back? @Peccavi (and Ozed at intervals), your intellectually sound tactical and strategic perspectives and proposed initiatives are always illuminative. @gbash10, those field snippets always give a fuller picture of proceedings. @Are James and Jimmy, you sirs often tie the loose ends with your input to create a nexus and deliver in high definition! The views and comments of other officers are duly respected too. One major fallout of this insurgency is the need for the Military high command to make sure they guide the politicians and not the other way round, else, as one fine officer commented here, Gen Minima’s career will be denominated in two words…Gwoza and Mubi. May God forbid! Service chiefs and operational commanders should be bold in saying what should be said in addition to ceaselessly asking for what they require. The reputation of the Nigerian military is being withered rapidly, the way water chisels ice cubes and a radical reverse of this process is now imperative! Politicians should PLEASE stop managing combat information, while the military should re-jig its public communication structure and orientation. Long live the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Long live the Nigerian Armed Forces!!!
Crashing assault helos…What’s with Yola air force base o? Why are helos coming down shortly after being airborne? The integrity of these helos is now being called to question and we need to do the needful…Are they affected by weather or terrain (the BO-105s were severely impacted by desert storms during the OAU Peacekeeping mission in Chad in the early 1980s, contrary to the German manufacturer’s claims that they were ‘all-weather’ capable). Without prejudice to patriotic officers and airmen / airwomen serving there, would it not be right for some urgent personnel audit to take place? Let the authorities take this step to rule out possible sabotage. Just a thought. I hold the NAF in very high esteem as they’ve been the heroes of this operations so far, as far as I’m concerned….alway Able…Willing…Ready. Kudos NAF!
Latest information on the ground
The Nigerian Army has taken delivery of a sizable number of tanks and are blasting their way into the North East from Yola axis. Their present location is unknown but reports state that the casualties on the side of bokoharam is huge with a good number of losses of their AA guns and other weapons.
The bokoharam fighter are being decimated and NA spirits are very high. Not heard men this happy in months better still, I have not hear men sound this enthusiastic in the last two years (you won’t believe me).
Reports further say that North Easterners are coming out in huge numbers to join the fighting on the side of the Nigerian Government.
Gentlemen, the North East is currently experiencing heavy fire.
Thanks for this uplifting news.
Martin luther u made reference to tanks are those tanks the t 84 oplots we were all expecting
Oga Martin Luther do you know what unit is attacking in Adamawa
IF this is the case weather conditions at Yola should be INVESTIGATED@ YOLA airport it COULD SIMPLY BE Wind shear ( where gusts of wind pin down the helicopter/ airplane) as it is climbing whereby loss of control can become inevitable.
Remedy either install WIND gauges ( wind speed measuring devices on purposely built towers) or
Check the weather forecast on an hourly forecast before landing aircraft there.
Having said all that bear in mind the more AIRCRAFT/ HELIOS are Logging airtime and get FIRST GRADE Military experience, the grim reality of war is that air crashes will happen ask America
The more reasons why we have repeatedly ask the Federal govt to ramp up the purchase of HELIOS and AIRCRAFT
oga P, Doziex i owe una a rejoinder but make man go pay the bills , I dey come
Wind shear is a possibility. Instruments are available to detect and warn all air traffic controllers and pilots.
http://odili.net/news/source/2014/nov/13/511.html
Another piece of rubbish news.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-30058879
More work for the ARMY this weekend.
http://www.punchng.com/news/another-air-force-jet-crashes-in-adamawa/
REVEALEDit appears the helio that crash was an MI-35 .No word on whether it was one of the recently acquired helios . OGA menatta please can you help us out.
Oga Jimmy, Good job bro. Your efforts are very much appreciated.
You are welcome any news on mbts?
None at all.
Oga Martin Luther do you know which unit is on the op? Which Battalions/ Brigades?
Frankly I can’t give details for now, before information start hitting the news stand. I don’t think it wud b right. A little bit of hope is gud enough for now. All I can say is things are getting better. I am sure that Monday u get all d news. I am personally surprised Sahara reporters and co have not picked up all these info
Oga Peccavi, troops from 72 Special Forces Battalion, that recently completed training with US Special Forces and other elements from 82 DiV from the East.
The first chopper was suspected to have been sabotaged, as preliminary investigation pointed towards that direction,the DSS,NAF intelligence units and their Air Police,DMI should comb within it’s personnel at Yola International Airport and its environ,for possible BH collaborators.
The tactics the NA was using then was very bad,how do you expect troops that are being ration with just 60 rounds of ammunition to fight an initial wave of BH fanatics before the main Hilux technicals blasting every thing along their way ?While on the other hand,BH are carrying along with them many drums filled with ammunition on some of their vehicles.
Please just praise some of our security forces that are still alive, because they pass through the valley of the shadow of DEATH!
Thanks Oga gbash10, that’s interesting, we have elements of 3 Div, 2 Div and 82 Div in theatre.
Lets hope the surge is finally taking place
Oje,keep on dreaming about western military hardwares that will never be sold to us.
The FG should beware of the west,especially the US and the UK,they will not want to sell any defence capability that is state-of-art to Nigeria. They have been telling us this since the Civil War era,our Jaguar jets comes to mind.
The tokumbo Cobra helicopters the US are doing shakara with are not as capable as the Russian built Mi-28NE Havoc attack helicopter that is comparable to the AH-64D Apache Longbow.
Please forget all the Western propaganda, Russian and Chinese weapons are very good, the Chinese AESA radar design is more matured than that of the Russians,however, Russia takes the lead in PESA radar design with China coming behind.
The FG should buy the Mi-28 attack helicopter which is a dedicated attack chopper,the Iraqis purchased 30 of these choppers from Russia and some are send ISI fighters to HELL in the ongoing fight there.
Imaging what would have been the fate of BH insurgents,if the NAF had this choppers in the beginning of last year.For this chopper to carry 16 Ataka missiles or 4 Strelets missiles,or 4 B8V20-A rocket pods(each housing 20 rockets) for launching S-8 type rockets, or 4 B13L1 packed with S-13 rockets of 122mm calibre and its standard moving gun unit NPPU-28 featurimg a 30mm 2,A42 gun.BH would have hidden all their Hilux in Sambisa forest for fear of the vehicles being attacked by the chopper.
Second thought on the latest chopper crash. This may very well have been caused by overloading.
Too many ammo crates and MREs piled inside a chopper with an old & possibly ‘derated’ engine. The military’s on going armour led ground push into Sambisa including Gwoza and other places is going to require hundreds of these flights for resupply. I suggest using a few civilian choppers as a back up to NAF’ s currently overworked Mi series choppers. If possible PMCs should provide military choppers and pilots to support the effort. Logistics flights should be kept to as infrequent as possible in number per day to reduce exposure so only large MI 8/17/171sh helicopters should be contracted. To reduce support flights you need constant communication with the field so that you react based on current and anticipated consumption. For ground attack, slow moving turboprop utility planes can be rigged with rocket pods and canons to provide the needed back up to MI 35s which are currently being overflogged while we are waiting tor the newer platforms coming from abroad.
Oga Are James I think you will find that Oga Doziexs dream has most likely come true and that is already happening.
The first plane crash had persistent witness reports of foreigners in the chopper.
If it was a US, French or UK aircraft we would have some sort of indication, a cover story of a crash elsewhere, maybe in Niger.
However if we look back to the money laundering issue with the $9.3m in a private jet, while that set of funds was illegal the other deal was legitimate.
Non of those amounts is enough to buy a helicopter and it makes no sense to buy one helicopter in such a manner
However if you were leasing helicopters and crews then it makes sense
I believe the FGN has contracted SA or Russian/ Eastern European company to provide supply helicopters to support the logistics efforts
WooHoo !!!
Oya Oga Doziex drinks are on you!
Most definitely.
I hope Col. Eeben and his colleges are some how involved.
I have mentioned Col. Neil Ellis aka The Gunship Ace. several times on this blog.
He is fresh off standing up the Afghan Army aviation unit with US sponsored Mi-35s.
His experience in the Hind cockpit in several wars spanning Africa, asia and Europe would be God sent to NAF’s combat air support efforts
which is irreplaceable in this war.
God bless you Martin Luther for the uplifting news. These crashes are to be expected if you add poor Nigerian maintenance culture to Russian systems that contrary to what many may believe, are not always reliable. Same goes for Chinese hardware, remember NigeriaSAT2 that was launched by China and crashed back to Earth just within months? save for the fact the Satellite was insured that would have been another loss entirely. Remember we’ve lost two F7 Jets as well to training accidents… the Alpha’s dont have this rate of crashes.
Solution? Its time to put our pride aside and source for Western Hardware, expensive yet but more expensive it will be if we keep losing trained service men to accidents.
Options?
South Africa’s Rooviak
U.S Marine : Cobras/ Sub sonic Harrier Jump Jets
Turkeys ATAK can be a cheaper but its 550 kilometer range ”guns” can wreck havoc to Bokostani Convoys from an incredible distance without resorting to expensive and highly complex smart weapons.
I have always maintained that western aeronautical hardware was superior on the maintenance/reliability side of things. For Russian aircraft you have to choose carefully, some designs have garnered a good record in service for example the MIG 21 MF/BIS/U of their day were maintainable, some versions of the SU 27/30 had he been reported to give good overall mean-time-to-fail intervals. The jury is still out on the MI 35M chopper but I suspect it would offer good reliability.
Russian kit, is generally easier to maintain, more rugged and cheaper
Oga Are James. I respect your hustle sir.
I honestly believe that, as a developing nation, we ought to strive first for numbers, superiority as compared to other platforms will generally be the next step in the development process, when electronics, avionics, and mechanical capabilities have been honed, this is analogous to an idea that a country like Nigeria should be worried about global warming having literally no electric power, when coal is arguably a cheap source of energy. After we have the numerous numbers of trained and certified engineers, we can then branch out into niche markets. Without a doubt the only way to get this ball rolling is to open the floodgates, let everyone, i mean, every private company/individual who has the wherewithal join the race, develop, manufacture, create a business plan and a working, functioning prototype of a viable gunship, then wither as we progress. Oga, i see no reason why a private company cannot develop and begin to manufacture a mere piston engine driven, titanium bucket Cessna-like gunship, what kind of investment is required for such venture? or purchase ready built civilian helicopter/Cessna’s/ and retool them for the purpose at hand, ground support, and attack. Numbers, numbers, numbers, having 20/40 of those in the north east airspace, all day everyday, will deal a severe blow to columns of terrorists, when in 30 secs, air assets can engage ground targets when called in. I see a case been positively made to the Finance minister to purchase 300 to 400 air assets when the investment is going into Nigerian companies that pays taxes and employs Nigerians, try and convince her to release that kind of money for even 30 Russian jets at a go, you go tire, because it doesn’t make any economical sense, unless we insist on technology transfer. That’s why i’m hoping the JF-17 kicks in with all intent and purposes, this way, with advanced technology in-hand, the Air force wouldn’t be left out of the local development policy already taking root in the Army, and Navy. Military industrial complex all the way.
Oga Oje. I respect your hustle sir.
I humbly disagree that, the solution to the seemingly recent, frequent crashes of our choppers and gunships is to simply replace one imported hardware for another, west or east, the problem, albeit will remain the same. I’ll suggest, as we have all said on this blog that private companies begin to manufacture these helicopters and gunships in-house, it isn’t rocket science, we do not have to reinvent the wheel, one wonders why a company like Bristow, which has been operating in Nigeria for ages, and i mean ages, leasing helicopters for use cannot kick into gear and take this venture on, all they need to do is buy a license and start tweaking, lack of vision from the private sector? well, maybe until Dangote starts to invest massively in this space, then same people will start shouting monopoly. Private sector, get them involved and trust me, competition kicks in, driving everything from innovation, to research, development, and the bread crumbs will be repairs, maintenance and overhauls.The Nigerian security apparatus is not as nimble as we want, they can adapt, but not as fast as a company of 50. That’s the future, Turkey’s ATAK T 129, tweaked and built in Turkey was as a result of a licence from Italy’s/Europe’s AUgustaWestland’s A 129, I see no reason why we cannot do the same, the African market alone is enough to warrant this type of investment from the private sector, but too many times, we cry government, government, government, when private sector which is suppose to be the brains and wit of a nation is just as culpable in our current situation. Maybe, as time goes on, and people begin to see how easy it is building a car from the ground up, as people like Innoson have already shown, we can then confidently begin to reach for the skies. I believe SSS and other clandestine agencies should do this nation proud by obtaining detailed diagrams and plans to manufacturing jet engines, turbofans, turboprops, and turboshafts, we owe nobody anything, we have to quell this unrest pronto, the only way to win this war sustainably is to make it profitable, any other way will be daunting and draining.
Bristow is to helicopters as BA is to aeroplanes.
There has to be the right conditions for aircraft manufacturing before we can start building. It’s more than CKD parts. Their stop gap approach to our drones for example hasn’t convinced me they are ready to go the full yard.
Until then, it’s all just wishful thinking. We need extensive technical input and resources to be poured in before we can manufacture aircrafts.
Here’s the reason we go to the Pakistanis’
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UXEllPGlhhg
Oga Kay. I respect your hustle sir.
Whether you think you can or you think you cannot, you are right. Attitude, and confidence or lack thereof is the one thing that reeks from your words, Oga. So you show me a link to a Pakistani warehouse with manufacturing equipment, and personnel, and you repeat to yourself, this is impossible to build in Nigeria, why? because you do not believe in yourself, you have simply lost the battle before it even begins. Excuses, excuses, a weak individuals best friend, always outlining how and why it is impossible, why and how dangerous, rather than engage, adequately dealing with minions when they surface. When humans boldly repeat, regurgitate, and reaffirm ideas drilled in them, and claim it as theirs, therein lies the evidence of serious and deep brainwashing, a body without a mind, some would say a zombie, put rather bluntly, in a state of hibernation, wanting to move but refusing to, for lack of will and fear of fear itself. Well, i am well aware of these pessimists, the same pessimists that said, Nigerians, and Nigerian companies cannot compete in the ever technical oil industry, they lack the will, they lack the know-how, they are not well educated, they don’t have the money, government is not doing enough, blah, blah, blah, what do we have today, Nigerians, and Nigerian companies, building Floating Production and storage vessels, from the ground up, NigerDock, Oando, Samsung, Ladol, and the likes, building and manufacturing complete offshore wellhead platforms, Abang and itut, included, these are Nigerians, with the same brain, like everyone else, agreed, some people erroneously admit to having inferior brains, but that’s not a trait that can be physically corroborated, its a psychological one. So, go on soun, Oga, you have the utmost right to declare to the world how low you think of yourself, its your prerogative, as for me and my house, nothing is impossible, you only have to shine your eye. “Bristow is to helicopters as BA is to aeroplanes” hahaha, oga, you too funny, so this would be the first time you heard of a service oriented company becoming a manufacturer? well, British Bristow obviously hasn’t felt any competition, hence they can claim local champion, better go ask France’s Lafarge, how e dey hot them for body since Dangote’s about to strangle them commot for market, now they are buying up assets, merging and consolidating, hehehe, why must one be forced to expand and innovate? its not that it cannot be done in Nigeria, It just pays other countries to manufacture in their country and sell to you. Oga, you too much, better to be a wishful thinker than no thinker at all, don’t you think? i wish you can.
@mcshegz
This one is no ordinary Pakistani warehouse. They are a collection of facilities that make up the Pakistani Aerospace complex. Next to their Nuclear Weapon Manufacturing facility with a dull official sounding name that I forget now, the buildings you see are some of the most strategic facilities in Pakistani. The important take away is that they started in 1974 with Mirage aircraft remanufacturing, which is like airplane heavy overhauls and from there they moved to airframe parts manufacturing on contract to major aerospace companies and from there to the design and manufacture of light planes and from there to the JF 17 Blocks 1/2/3.
Nigeria as just been too unambitious a country and governed by the lowest minded of the population that is why we are here. I think we should adopt the Pakistani template and put some pace into it with ‘programme accelerators’ that will put us at par with Pakistan in six years. This is doable.The manpower aspect of it can be developed in three years with our current agreements with Cranfield in the UK, enough funding for AFIT and employing from existing Nigerian manpower in diaspora. Precision manufacturing equipment and CAD/CAM technology should be a national emergency programme as we speak now. We should have concentrated on this after Ajaokuta. We also need non ferrous metallurgical foundries. All the things could be had for less than $5bn. Just ask Pakistan and Iran.
My Ogas, as I have always said, Boko Haram CANNOT defeat Nigeria, even if Boko has 30,000 men, how will they defeat 200,000 Nigerian soldiers, 500,000 Nigerian policemen, and 177 million Nigerians that can produce young men transformed into militants like OPC, MASSOB, MEND, EGBESU, Civilian JTF, Local hunters, angry mobs with juju and dane guns….e no go easy for Boko Haram o ! Naija people too plenty !
They cannot defeat Nigeria but they can create the conditions by which the country implodes
Oga Peccavi, I agree.
Most Nigerian Army ‘tactical manoeuvrings’ from battle have been caused by inadequate weaponry, low ammo, undermanning of key posts and partially verifiable stories of ‘bullet proof BH fighters’. The institution is in need of transformation.
A strong president would make it imperative for the CoAS to purge the mid level officer corps of jokers, free loaders, IBB-type nepotistic officers, politicians and corrupt personnel. This means extensive training locally and abroad as young fresh junior officers are being groomed into the mid level cadre and new weapon systems and operational doctrine. We don’t need business men or politicians in the army. The profession is a hundred years old, older than Nigeria itself. It has always and is constantly calling for honour, sacrifice and discipline.
One of the things I DO NOT WANT TO DO
accuse the COAS OF STUFF THAT REALLY HE HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH.let me explain.
A LT. COL, by virtue of the structure ( Please correct me guys if I am wrong those of you who are in the service or were in the service) would of spent close to 12 years in service i am going by the 1-3-3-4-4 format i.e. 2nd LT- LT- CAPT- MAJ- LT COL ( This does not take combat promotions into account)
At least at the very minimum he/ she would of been in the service for 12 years there has to be a level of competency associated with giving such an individual with overall command of a battalion at Mubi or Gwoza.The COAS cannot know the individual competency of every battalion commander in the Nigeria army it is sheer impossible and if he said he did he would be lying he may of read their files of all the battalion in sensitive areas of the North east but he would be wrong to fire / reassign/ demote somebody based on whispers till that person proves other wise then IT IS the GOC who RECOMMENDS / FIRES THE BATTALION CO for removal . In short what I am saying is the recommendations should come from the brigade commander level onward to GOC level for action not the COAS LEVEL.
We should not get into a habit of blaming everything seen and unseen on the COAS IT WILL DIMINISH US.
How serious are we? Reps yet to receive details on Jonathan’s $1bn loan http://odili.net/news/source/2014/nov/14/802.html
They are going to frustrate it but it does not matter. The govt can still take the loan and pay based on EO. The whole point of publicizing the loan and making so much huss and fuss was to play politics, make noise and ‘share’ the pressure and some blame with the legislature.
Oga Obix, that is Nigeria for you, the general rule is….arms purchase secrecy with near zero accountability and inflated prices as well as some diversion of funds and plenty of delay-time wasting. Buying 2 weapons at the price of 4.
Reread what I wrote and what you replied Oga McShegz. That’s how people fail exams.
It also tells how much you know when you inserted ‘Bristow’ in place of manufacturing and inserting SSS.
Where did I write ‘cannot’? I stated the right conditions!
Is Ajakouta running?
Has the government invested extensively in metallurgy?
Oga Kay. I respect your hustle sir.
Upon further reflection, it is clear that, i came across as a bit too emotional in my last comment, thereby likely offending your sensibilities, that wasn’t my aim, neither was it my intention, i guess i got carried away Oga. Please accept my apology sir. I will never willingly disrespect or cast aspersions, i hope you understand Oga. Tuale, you too much
Oga McShegz Sir, no hard feelings. All of us here are united by the love of our country hence why we congregate here proffering, agreeing or disagreeing. I believe our end game here collectively is for better outcomes, efficiency, peace of mind, cutting edge stuff and to be head and shoulders above our neighbours.
None the less, I too apologise if my words came out wrongly. I just wanted to slide in my opinion on the theme of the conversation.
Nice one both of you
@Oga mcshegz. I really respect your hustle.
That was a great show of maturity you showed there, accepting your mistake and apologizing accordingly. A lesson for all.
@Oga Kay, Mcshegz, AreJames and Obix, deep reflection indeed gentlemen. I had once suggested to a highly-placed friend some years back when the Kogi State University was being contemplated that it should be a specialised institution that will take advantage of the extensive iron ore deposits available in situ and the Ajaokuta Steel Complex. I argued that it should be designated as Kogi State University of Metallurgy and Materials Engineering. My idea didn’t fly, even though my friend agreed with me. This goes to suggest that even in some critical cases, our States are not taking advantage of their God-given endowments to drive development. Imagine what an institution like that could be bringing to a nascent military industrial complex, the type you have all espoused in your comments? Its still not too late sha. God bless Nigeria.
CNN : Boko Haram captures town of kidnapped girls Chibok
Fox News: Nigerian troops recaptures Mubi, prepares for large offensive
CCTV: Nigerian army captures town from Boko Haram, kills hundreds.
Obama might hate you.
Republicans think they like you.
China is sure they like you.
‘Counter Insurgency Procurement’. Nothing to do with COIN, but ‘Ogas’ Enjoyment Procurement’
It’s courtesy of Aviation in Nigeria blog and new VVIP chopper.
http://helihub.com/2014/11/06/agustawestland-ships-first-nigerian-vip-aw101/
Oga James we need to stop deceiving ourselves by thinking Liberal democrats in America are pro ”minority/Africans” by default and red neck conservative are racist/anti Africans by default. It is this kind of thinking that cripples our foreign policy as is evident in America’s deeming distance from Africa despite been a president of African decent. Hillary Clinton herself is irritated the Boko Haram shit came up, she vehemently refused to label Boko Haram a terrorist group, add to that the limited number of blacks in his cabinet. Under neoconservative president Bush the most powerful woman in the world became Condoleeza rice. Chairman JCOS, Colin Powell was black. President Bush and Collin Powell visited Nigeria twice. This is Collin Powel
;http://youtu.be/Jzj-lVyXli4
President Bush’s trip to Africa
This is President Bush even after he is out of office.
These are Neo Cons and this was way before Nigeria joined the global battle against Islamic extremists or terrorists. Does anyone here now believe if Bush was in Power Nigeria will have problems acquiring the best weapons to combat terrorism? or is President Jonathan gonna be getting flaks over ”alleged”human rights violation against an enemy that doesnt play fair? These are the countroes in the fore front of the global war on terror as of this writing.
Bellingerates
United States
Britain
Syria
Israel
Turkey
Nigeria
Axis
ISIS
Al-Queada
Al Shahab
Boko Haram
Hezbollah
Nigerians should wear a badge of honour of being the only African country fighting terror on a large scale right together with the west right?? WRONG !Nigeria is the odd man out in that the Western media do not even acknowledge Nigeria s fighting the same evil they are spending billions fighting. The first thing they cite is ”Poverty, human rights and corruption” as the reason for terrorists in Nigeria. While the world most powerful countries is United in the global war on terror its like Nigeria does not even exist in their radar
FINALLY
Nigerian Army recaptures Chibok…Fox News
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2014/11/16/nigerian-army-says-it-has-regained-town-chibok/?intcmp=latestnews
It appears to me that our press have no clue of the distinction between a Raid and the capture of a town. From all indications what happened at Chibok was a raid as there seems to be no accounts any intense firefight as a prelude to the re-capture of the town, suggesting therefore that the enemy force had withdrawn before the counter attack came in.
Anyway it is good news that our boys have reoccupied their previous positions.
We just need to press home our attacks with more gusto to keep the enemy off balance.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-30080514
Kano is one of the largest States population wise in terms of two critical things : Muslims and Hausas and except for the lone deranged suicide Bomber . BH has been literally wiped of the map.
The reasons are as simplistic as they seem. The previous Emir constantly berated them which led to repeated attempts on his life. The new EMIR having seen the green leaves despite being a vocal critic of the GOVT has towed the line.
Constructive CRITICISM #8 . For boko haram TO BE COMPREHENSIVELY defeated that is in all facets there has to be A FUNDAMENTAL CONSENSUS OF POLITICAL WILL @ THE GRASSROOTS LEVEL. in lay mans terms.
All the main traditional rulers need to go on t.v. and radio and publicly repudiate boko haram
SUCH LEADERS ARE:
The Emirs of Kano, Mubi, Gwoza,
Sarduna of Sokoto, Sheu Bornu,
It should not be limited to the Northern Leaders ,prominent leaders from all over Nigeria the Owelle of Onitsha, the Oni of Ife, the Oba of Lagos, Traditional leaders in the Niger delta, as well as the Calabar and Kalabari region, it is very important everyone speaks out it is not a poverty issue, it is not a Northern issue, it is not a Muslim issue it is a boko haram issue, it is a Nigerian issue.
Oga Jimmy #8 is a good idea for Government to execute
http://www.naijaurban.com/foreign-currency-helicopter-crashed-yola/
I dey confused
This is open to a lot of interpretations. We know there were mercenaries on the chopper, why they would be carrying foreign currency however makes the imagination run wild.
I don’t even want to go into all the possibilities.
Oga Martin Luther. I respect your hustle sir.
Another, alternate theory for sure, one cannot be seen to propagate theories which cannot be verified and, or corroborated. Dollars on board?? well, a lot of reasons why that may be, like Oga Are James said, we cannot begin to delve into the myriad of possibilities as to why, how, and who has the most to gain from such an article. Oga, no confusion about the fact that Nigeria is under siege from bokoarerams. We shall overcome.
The fact someone claimed they found so and so boxes of blah blah foreign currency in a burnt out helicopter doesn’t prove anything. How believable is it that out of the so-called boxes, all the other notes in that box or boxes where burnt beyond recognition and by some magic the fire which had the power to burn all the other flames chose to spare one note? Haba! If you believe this, you will believe anything.
http://www.punchng.com/business/business-economy/dangote-refinery-to-begin-operation-2018/
GUYS forgive me you know me by now I ALWAYS STRIVE TO SHOW POSITIVE FINANCIAL NEWS ABOUT NIGERIA.
Following in Oga Jimmy’s footsteps, I found this news analysis which says armed conflict costs Africa USD18 billion annually…
http://www.gaskiya.net/
We need to mobilise all resources to defeat BH soonest and stave off any unhealthy socio-economic consequences. We just can’t afford a protracted conflict. God bless Nigeria and her armed forces!
How do i post pictures of our T-72 on the blog ? Seems not everyone has the rights…
Do you have a link or just the photo?
Photos…..
Used to send to beegs, but now that he is MIA….
send me your email so you can publish
Host it on imgur and then post the link here…
Oga zachary999 you can post the Nigerian T-72 photos as a web link here, or if it’s a photo with no web link, you can send to oga peccavi and oga jimmy to help you contact oga Beegeagle to post it. How I wish it could make a new thread, but…..
jst post it on nairaland and den share d link
OGA Beeg MIA?
I guess he is ‘hibernating’ with a good reason.
Boko Haram War Machine
This is a guest post by Allen Grane, research associate for the Council on Foreign Relations Africa Studies program. Allen is an officer in the U.S. Army National Guard.
In early September there were reports that the Nigerian military captured a “quad barreled ZSU-23-4 Shilka” anti-aircraft gun that was mounted on a Toyota technical truck, from Boko Haram. Sahara Reporters later confirmed that the Nigerian military captured heavy weapons systems from Boko Haram such as a T-55 tank and a Panhard ERC-90 “Sagaie.” Now that we know the kind of weaponry in Boko Haram’s possession, we are left with two major questions.
First, can Boko Haram operate these weapons systems? While T-55’s and ZSU-23-4 “Shilka’s” are not the most advanced weapon systems, it does require some training to operate these systems properly (in Shekau’s latest video he loses control of a heavy machine gun he was firing). With time and practice, it is quite feasible that Boko Haram insurgents could learn to use these systems. It would seem that they have the experience needed as Boko Haram apparently shot down a Nigerian jet in early September with an anti-aircraft system similar to the captured Shilka.
The real difficulty in operating systems such as the T-55 and the “Sagaie” is more a matter of logistics than training. Vehicles need parts. Guns need bullets. And, tanks need gas. It is difficult for modern militaries like the United States to keep 100 percent of their tanks functional. These are machines that require an immense amount of maintenance and repair. If Boko Haram is somehow able to keep its heavy weaponry in working order, it will have to fuel them in order to use them in the fight against the Nigerian military. The basic fuel load on a T-55 tank carries 254 gallons of fuel which gives the T-55 a range of 242 miles. That means that a T-55 tank gets less than one mile per gallon of gas.
This raises a second question: if Boko Haram is able to use its heavy weaponry, how does it supply its logistical needs? The personnel to maintain the equipment would almost certainly come from one of the militaries in the region. But, where do the parts, bullets, and the fuel come from? There are varying hypotheses regarding the origin of the weaponry. It is possible that it comes from Libya or even the Nigerian military itself. Most likely, the equipment comes from various sources. Does Boko Haram get its fuel from Nigeria or other sources in the region? T-55’s run on diesel fuel. Some “bunkered” oil is “cooked” into diesel for domestic use in Nigeria. Boko Haram may draw on this source of supply. That does not preclude Boko Haram from acquiring diesel from outside of the region as well. It remains unclear where Boko Haram accesses fuel reserves necessary to keep its heavy weaponry running.
If Boko Haram is able to operate these weapons systems, it signifies a whole new level to the conflict. However, it is also possible that these systems go unused except as background pieces for propaganda videos. If this is the case the Nigerian military’s capture of these kinds of weapons are largely hollow victories.
http://blogs.cfr.org/campbell/2014/10/08/the-boko-haram-war-machine/
OGA OJE
Much respect for your comments, For Mr Allen Green, I do not without trying to rubbish his comments, I at best struggle to understand his point.
There are two very important points that i learned from the Nigerian civil war and the Gulf War 2
Point#1 ( Nigerian civil war) : You do not give aid or succor, or any form of relief be it physical or Psychological to the enemy in any shape of form whatsoever, One of the lessons taught to every commander is even in retreat destroy any material ( weapons) you cannot physically carry with you.
Point #2 (Gulf War 2) : In the documentary Thunder run . which detailed the run to Baghdad by An Armored Brigade of M1 Abrams and Bradleys they came under sustained small arms fire in which an RPG hit an disabled it permanently. A decision was taken by a senior officer ( LT .COL) to blow it up following a step by step procedure under an intense battle field where men being were wounded and killed on both sides this prolonged delay was for One MBT . My point is this if the Americans figured it out that you do not give any morale boost to the enemy why should the Nigerians not figure it out.
Point#3 @ At the time the Barracks @ Mubi was captured there were at least 5 or More APC and based on the fact that the Military Hierarchy Believed it was more than adequately stocked it stands to reason there was enough fuel to last according to them an extended firefight.. It therefore stands to reason they should done everything within their powers not only to recapture MUBI but to recapture the equipment and more. Personally i have never faced A T55 IN BATTLE but i would rather that it’s guns being blazing for me than blazing against, as to the tank being in a good maintained condition it really does not have to be The concussive effect of a T55 SHELL can kill a man from a KILOMETER away.
POINT#4 In Conclusion the recapture of MUBI based on what I have heard and the subsequent recapture of Equipment after two weeks was a great morale boots to the soldiers and people of Mubi and Adamawa state, It also exposed and hopefully this has now been corrected that there are some problems with the mid level officers at the LT COLONEL level that need to be corrected what i further to explain is the Nigerian Army has come to realize that just because you have been promoted to the rank of LT COL does not automatically make a C.O. in charge of a sensitive battalion or second in command of a brigade these bitter lessons are emerging from the fog of war.
http://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/nigerian-air-force-eyes-scorpion-combat-surveillance-406203/
Nigeria’s air force has expressed an interest in acquiring the Textron AirLand Scorpion strike and surveillance aircraft in order to counter the Boko Haram Islamist insurgency in the country.
The service currently operates both dedicated strike and surveillance types – the Chengdu F-7Ni and ATR 42, respectively – but believes that a low-cost aircraft with a dual capability would enable quicker and more precise counter-insurgency operations.
“In my country, we want and need this,” AVM RA Ojuawo, director of operations representing CAS, Nigerian air force headquarters, told the International Fighter conference in London on 18 November. “We want this equipment, but are they going to give it to us?”
Ojuawo says Abuja will soon put in a request to the US government for the sale of up to a squadron’s worth of aircraft. However, it worries that approval may not be granted, based on the previous rejection of its appeal for Bell Helicopters AH-1 Cobra rotorcraft.
“It is going to take the international community to fight insurgency, and the only way to do that is to give [countries] the technology that they need,” Ojuawo says.
“The nature of warfare has changed…but air power remains important against irregular warfare, and the importance of air power in the contemporary environment is increasing,” he adds. “We as a nation and as an air force are having a rethink.”
The rise of al-Qaeda-linked Boko Haram has increased the threat of insurgency in Nigeria. However, the F-7 combat aircraft are unable to carry precision-guided munitions and are therefore poorly suited for counter-insurgency strikes in urban environments.
“We are really handicapped in targeting the enemy where they are,” Ojuawo says. Equally, the ATR turboprop is unarmed, and therefore while it can detect insurgents, there is a delay before strike aircraft can be brought on station.
“The ATR will see the enemy, know its position, but can’t do anything about it,” he adds. “We have to fight the way the enemy is fighting and find him where he is.”
Chai!!! Dia ris God OOOh! This sounds so lame and impotent i had to take time off to go and throw up.
What happened to improvisation?
I have said on this forum several times that we need to arm our trainer aircraft and use them for interdiction missions. Better still why not arm our mid size cargo aircraft and use them e.g. the DO-228. Its already sturdy. The twin engines give it higher survivability.
The payload is close to 3000kg. These can be converted to carry bullets for gun pods (say 30mm) or rockets (say 57mm). They have far more endurance and loiter time than our fast jets. They can stay aloft out of sight until vectored in by the ATRs.
They are not your optimal solution, but they are a far better response than the lame wringing of hands that this article suggests.
Even the USAF found they had to improvise in vietnam, and they came up with the cessna birdog, this aircraft could hand around for ever and spot any enemy activities. It was armed so it could also attack, but most importantly it vectored heavier air resources on to the targets by marking them with smoke, flares etc.
Please CAS, wake up and challenge the AFIT to earn their keep.
They Biafrans transformed a light single engined trainer (the MFI) into a fearsome ground attack aircraft so many years ago, with limited resources and under a sea and air blockade. Gentlemen we have no— repeat —no excuse for waiting and hoping for the mercies of the Americans!!!!! ,
Oga ozed, I am on your side. It is a foolish excuse by the NAF officer.
The Scorpion is not cheap, it’s $20 million per unit. It is still ‘under-development’ and not tested by any air force yet.
Any country like America that you need to beg to sell aircraft to you, can also ruin the aircraft later by refusing to sell you spare parts and armaments in the immediate future.
NAF abeg stop all these embarrassing statements ! Abeg !
ATR-42 can fly joint ops with Super Tucano, ATR finds target while Tucano is flying together above it, then radios Tucano to attack the target with precision guided weapons in just one minute !
Tucano can also pair with Beechcraft ISTAR aircraft for such joint operations.
Super Tucano ground surveillance radar is now ready in Brazil.
JF-17 Thunder has long range ground search radar and recce pods plus FLIR for surveillance and has precision guided weapons for attacking the same target it detects.
NAF has 12 units of MBB-339 that can be cheaply upgraded in Italy for $84 million total cost to MBB 339CD configuration II version as a 4th Generation light attack aircraft, with Italian FLIR and Recce pods and precision guided attack weapons, as well as ground search radar is you want it.
NAF abeg , we are not fools here o ! Nigerian military, it seems you have been fooling and deceiving President Goodluck Jonathan a lot, abi? All because the president has almost zero military knowledge, NA and NAF, una well done o !
Off begging the US again. Na wah! When do we stop this behaviour. They have clearly said they won’t be offering any offensive platforms for sale to us. End off!! Lets buy 12 units of the Su-25. The Iraqis ordered and got their’s delivered in record two weeks. We can have the first batch of our Su-25 delivered in four weeks if we put in the orders now, and cash backed. Enough of this entreaties on a friendly nation who signed off Nigeria as finished by 2015. There are willing nations happy to accept our money and do business with us; if we are truly serious to reequip our military.
They did not say that they are not selling us offensive platforms. They just wont sell kit that is reserved for Nato allies or countries in the Nato cooperative agreement. The idea that Nigeria should buy F-16s, Apaches or Cobras is laughable. Has anyone seen one of this aircraft looking dilapidated? Having said that I have been on record in the past as stating that Nigeria needs to buy the SU-25.
This Scorpion COIN aircraft has better/more modern sensors and targeting than SU25 and less operationally costly, believe it or not. I have brought this aircraft up on this blog and my advice was; don’t buy, too expensive, restricted payload not as protected as SU 25, too fresh off development and certification and still unproven. The deal breaker would be the US government anyway, they just won’t approve it for any reason.
Be like these airforce boys no dey hear something.
The plane is more or less equivalent to the russian Yak.
How does the Nigerian airforce plan to get spare parts when the americans get cold feet from human rights issues even if they sell them the jets??
SMH @ Nigerian military advisers.
Sometimes i really think they are quite clueless.
Very funny. Whatever happened to the interest in Super Tucanos since we are looking into COIN aircratfs? Don’t mean to sound negative, but let me be realistic here: how many is NAF actually willing to acquire? 2 or 3 or a full squadron? This aircraft is also still in the developmental stage, and has not been tested in the field. Whatever was the reasons to decide on this? We have shown interest in Tucanos, JF17, Cobra, Mi series choppers, rumours around the Hongdu L15 and now this one, and the only one we’re sure of are the Mi choppers and the VIP aircrafts already delivered in record speed. Zachary999 says the NAF is getting more Alpha jets which in my opinion is crazy but more than likely to happen. The weapons market is an open one, within the list of Russia, China, Brazil, India, South Africa we can acquire whatever we want from for multirole jets, attack helicopters, COIN aircrafts, IFVs, APCs, MRAPs, MBTs, self propelled howitzers, SAMs, SSMs. The list goes on and on. The Algerian navy’s 6 newly built SuperLynx submarine warfare helicopters will be carrying South African air to surface missles. At the rate we are going, nobody takes us seriously anymore.
It was an easy decision. We have more pilots on this platform that have done weapons delivery in the air weapons school. We also have engineers and the armament team that are all conversant with the platform. Most of our fighter pilots have more currency on this platform. Also very easy to get aircraft from Eastern Europe.
On the short term get fairly used platforms, get the Israelis to update it with FLIR capability and Rafael for missiles. Also looking at the L 39 that have completed lifecycle upgrades for attack roles.
Like I have always said forget all this speculation, when a deal is done like for the helicopters ( Mi-35m and Mi-171sh) it would be news. I never supported the cobra deal because all our pilots would have been dead by Christmas had those platforms been acquired. Single engine, 30 year old machines that even the innovative Israelis had difficulties with.
Notice we have not had a fighter CAS in the last 3 appointments since Petrini…. Any coincidence that’s why we have a bloody 737-500 rotting away in Abuja and super kings carrying VIP all over the place ?
So zachary, are u saying that because our boys are alpha jet proficient, we shouldnt look to acquiring superior airframes?
If Nigeria wants the Scorpion, and has funds to pay for it, then I cannot see the US govt standing in the way. The manufacturing company is desperate for sales of this aircraft.
Enough of this US thing. We are deceiving ourselves. Ask youselves has the US ever been a major arms supplier to Nigeria? Why is it now a big deal for us? During the Civil War, same thing played out, Most of our early supplies came from the UK, the US never sold us anything. And with the very first shouts of genocide, even the UK stopped any major sales to Nigeria. Hence the war was actually won with supplies from USSR.
So there you have it. Any reliance on the Western Countries in a war where you suspect you will need to get your hands dirty is a waste of time.
Regarding the debate on SU-25 or others, we have seen from our procurement turnaround time that those are at best medium term solutions. In the meantime we fold our hands and continue to lose lives and territory.
I reiterate that we MUST improvise in the short term.
Do you think the U.S government is Wallmart, where you just walk in with your cash and buy Cobra Helicopters, pay as you go. Our minister of foreign affairs should resign, Boko Haram has better PR.
http://imgur.com/mS6T1y4
My brother, that T72 looks very very old man. I honestly hope it had a complete overhaul before they brought it to Nigeria!
It’s a T72B.
Well,still better than T-55. Question is how many were acquired?
Besides, is the rear hull always uncovered?
Reactive armour only in front. Is NAEME rationing the packs between tanks and APCs?.
Na wa for Nigeria o. Our generals / poliTHIEFcians strike again. Instead of a T 90 or the Oplot, they go for a T 72. I just pray the incomplete ERA package is due to work “-in-progress”and not because some idiot pocketed half the cash.
Oga Akin, everyone here keeps berating Nigeria for cutting cost and buying cheap junk while others aquire state of the art weapons systems. Everything from our Tanks, vessels, fighter jets and helicopter’s are outdated, Boko Haram has thought the Nigerian army that you cannot win a war with cheap unreliable platforms if you do not have the quantitative power to compensate for its low tech. We have lost more aircrafts, helicopter’s and pilots to accidents than to enemy fire. This year alone we have lost 3 helicopters and 2 pilots to mechanical failures.why should we keep towing the Russian, Chinese or Czech line? This is Africa’s biggest economy with a GAP(PPP) of $1.3 trillion, huge external oil reserve worth $6 trillion and a daily inflow of hard currency. We are not in the same league as Cameroon,Chad,Ghana or Liberia whose limited resources relegates them to using Chinese or Russian weapons. We are in the same league as Egypt, South Africa, Turkey, Iran , if we want 20 state of the art Gripen fighter we can purchase them and it won’t break the Bank. America really fucked us up. Can you imagine the havoc a fleet of state of the art cobra attack helicopters will rain down on Boko Haram, especially at night? They will be receiving saber rounds not knowing where it’s coming from, not even hearing the rotor blades.
I’ll rather we negotiate a deal with Dennel and aquire Rooviak helicopter’s.
hope u all hav a wonderful time people??? i guess u wil find this interesting http://www.janes.com/article/45858/nigeria-wants-to-procure-scorpion-isr-and-light-attack-jet
Oga Dejay, we do not want that Embrae paper and cellutape Super Tucanos, we do not want any J-17 Chinese knock off, we do not want any bulky, slow moving and noisy helicopter’s, Boko Haram can hear them coming from 2 miles out. We want Tornado GR7’s, and A-10 Warthogs. We want F-16’s and Cobra attack gunships.
Nigerias foreign affairs minister is just earning six digit salary a month for nothing, I’m not even sure he read International diplomacy at school, our PR sucks. Make me minister of foreign affairs Mr President, I’ll secure F- 16’s and Apache for Nigeria with no sweat.
What you have posted here skills simplistic at first readinh until one really thinks about it.
I think you are right. Serious incompetence and downright dumbness in people occupying strategic offices is to blame for most of these problems. It is like every body is learning on the job, groping in the dark, stumbling, bumbling and mumbling through motions without forethought or planning. There are easy ways to manipulate events and craft the narrative that the US government would give you what you need even when when don’t like you. They are just about arming terrorists in Syria as we speak. On the probability that they refuse to give you the arms required then a previously articulated Plan B should have automatically kicked in to source the stuff from Russia and China but as I said before, these other guys now know they are the only hope so maybe things should have been kept quiet. Long and short, I give this government very low marks when it comes to managing anything not related to short term monetary profit.
That’s what happens when political associates and profiteers, contractors, ethnic and religious affiliates run (ruin) a country for more than 30 years.
Sri lanka defeated the more formidable Tamil Tigers with F7 fishbeds and chinese weaponry.
Nigeria doesn’t need any americans or american weapons.
The problem lies in the military leadership…
On Nigerian military hardware purchase, I’ll just say a word of caution. Never celebrate a deal until it touches Nigerian soil. We have heard of ‘evaluation’ and lots more without deliveries. This war has raged virulently in the last year or so and yet we got them still shopping to no end.
‘But VIP choppers can come through in record time’? While most important ones are still subject to haggling and so. Add that there’ll also have to be training on unfamiliar jets,helicopter which would take quite a few months to a year. Meanwhile we have enemies at the gates…
Best is go on ahead with what we have right now, waiting for some holy grail weapon is going to be disaster.
I guess a Buhari – Fashola ticket would be our way out.
I would have preferred a Fashola- Ribadu ticket.
Anyway, Nigeria has to be rescued from this current display of gross incompetence.
Every woe that is befalling Nigeria today, we (Nigerian citizens) warned of, at the top of our lungs for at least 3 years. Some longer.
All the time that Ukraine was running a global arms bazaar, with their soviet era arsenal, Nigeria with it’s Billions couldn’t be bothered to replace our obsolete equipment.
Now at the 11th hour, when BH is sacking Nigerian towns and military bases, and Ukraine is at war, and needs to bolster it’s own fighting forces, Nigeria now sees the urgency.
There was also Libya.
When Gaddafi was overthrown, his armory was flung open to any one with cash. Ask the Sudanese.
NA could have gotten plenty good deals on the cheap, within the existing budget, and also denied BH and Ansar dine the bulk of their arsenal.
But GEJ’s regime has displayed zero global awareness, zero continental awareness, and zero regional savvy.
Dude’s just gat to go, let’s try another leader.
Man Doziex,
Am glad the solution to Nigeria’s problems are very clear in your mind. i wish i could say same for my self. Let me just ask you a few questions, maybe after i see your answers i can share your peace;
1. In all the rhetoric from the opposition, have you ever seen any clear road map to the end of this war?
2. Gen Buhari has a good record winning a conventional war against chadians, when the Army was far more professional, what is he going to do to redress the effects of over 15 years of decline in the military. maybe you have heard it from him, i havent.
3. Assume you are right and a muslim-muslim ticket wins, do you really think the christians would be as tolerant as they have been all this while in the face of one sided slaughter by the other side (under various names, boko haram, Fulani herdsmen etc.).
4. Finally and most fearfully for me, if APC wins with a Northern candidate, do you really think Boko haram will just vanish? If it does, what do you think the Christians will think, wont they believe all that was just a plan by the North to grab power? If power leaves the South South, do you think the Niger Delta boys will stay peaceful for long? If conflict breaks out in the Niger Delta, do you think (given how the military is currently performing) they can cope with a war on both sides, North and South? Plus the fact that if the oil stops flowing due to conflict, the possibility of buying all the Oplots and SU-25s we love to talk about here might just vanish into thin air.
Expecting your answers and hope they will convey simple explanations to show all is as simple as you suggest, so i can sleep with both eyes closed.
Regards my bro.
oga OZED
I rarely feel compelled to discuss anything political on this blog however lately i have been making the exception to the rule because of the role that the lack of Political leadership has been playing in prolonging this war.
Let me make you very clear on my moments of DISCLOSURE I am from a mixed Christian/ Muslim family so i have grown up seeing both sides. Second MOMENT OF DISCLOSURE I do not care whether it is a Muslim/ Muslim ticket or a Christian/ Christian or even none of your Biz what my religion is/ i don’t know what my religion is.
What i care about is to have a President and Political leadership who has a sense of urgency and takes determined steps to end the boko haram INSURGENCY with everything at his disposal. This sense of urgency seems to be lacking in this administration.
We have it appears just got verifiable information that four and half years into this insurgency we have our first set of heavy armor arriving. meanwhile our airforce chief is still taking photos. The most senior officer the cds is in danger of being the most least like cds since its inception by the Babangida regime and there are growing number of calls for him to be fired- and that is coming from all four corners of Nigeria.
Whether the oil fileds are set on fire or not or the spoilt rotten boys return to the creeks or begin give oyinbo enforced absence will not save GEJ’S job you cannot force people to vote for you if you are incompetent and this administration even to people like myself have caused people to swear off it, why do you think BEEGEAGLE IS NOT COMMENTING , I will tell you why, He is just full of frustration at an administration and Military leadership that will not do the right thing. This war is a Night WAR THEREFORE YOU BUY a squadron of Night Stalkers ( 12 MI-35) ……… S
Oga Ozed,
Bruh where should I start ?
1st of, I admit that I was bored with the discus, and just wanted to liven things up.
Gen Buhari along with the late Gen Idiagbon are remembered by Nigerians for their draconian enforcement of law and order.
In today’s Nigeria, that wouldn’t be a bad thing.
I think a lot of the islamist rumors about Buhari are just rumors.
However, I think he is too old, so that is why I would prefer Gov. Fashola, our best performing governor to lead the ticket.
Nuhu Ribadu would make a powerful VP, with a powerful anti corruption agenda.
Fashola has just proven in the last 8 yrs, that he can competently manage and improve Nigeria’s largest state.
That is all I really care about, and is all that should matter to Nigerians.
Our number 1,2 and 3 problems arise from issues of incompetent leadership.
We can’t afford our traditional emphasis on tribe and religion.
Oga Jonah, (mr. president) is the closest to an ibo president Nigeria would see for the for seeable future, I am Ibo, I used to support the man, But the incompetence emanating from his rule screams to the high heavens.
We need a leader that is personally intelligent and savvy, then more importantly, has the ability to select competent advisers to aid his leadership.
NA’s defsec woes will be fixed overnight by an insightful leader.
A strong and competent military is good business.
Madam Okonjo, we warned you, what would become of all your wonderful economic priorities, without NA to defend it from BH ?
@Doziex,
Let’s stay focused here, because if we start the politics of the upcoming elections, we’re threading on dangerous grounds…
You think an average Christian will vote for Buhari, a man that refused to reign in his supporters when they went berserk and killed innocent youth corpers? A man quoted to say that Muslims should ONLY vote for Muslim candidates? A man that jailed Vice president Ekwueme without charges for 22 months while President Shagari was enjoying “house arrest”? A man that allowed people like El-Rufai to fleece PTF while he claimed ignorance. Please do not let me get started on this Buhari issue…
You do not know how much that man is hated by people. Nigeria will rather split than a Buhari presidency, especially in light of the current BH issue
Like i said earlier, lets stay on Defsec issues here, we have Nairaland to do all the roforofo politic fights…
Thank you
Alright ! Alright ! Bruh, don’t chop off my head (lol)
We are a defsec blog, but gat no defsec facts to discuss.
Just saying.
OGA ZACHARY
Thank you for the info on the T72 . I have no doubt on the source but as you know questions do remain how many? and from what eastern block country ? Russia or Ukraine do come to mind or even Belarus?.
What i can discern from the photo:
In America the transporter used to carry these types of Tanks T-72, is called a “low boy” the length
of these is capable of carrying at least two tanks at a time especially on critical bridges.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T-72
“Several T-72 models featured explosive reactive armour (ERA), which increased protection primarily against HEAT type weapons. Certain late-model T-72 tanks featured heavy ERA to help defeat modern HEAT and AP against which they were insufficiently protected.
Late model T-72s, such as the T-72B, featured improved turret armour, visibly bulging the turret front—nicknamed “Super-Dolly Parton” armour by Western intelligence.[37] The turret armour of the T-72B was the thickest and most effective of all Soviet tanks; it was even thicker than the frontal armour of the T-80B.[37] The T-72B used a new “reflecting-plate armor” (bronya s otrazhayushchimi listami), in which the frontal cavity of the cast turret was filled with a laminate of alternating steel and non-metallic (rubber) layers.[38] The glacis was also fitted with 20 mm (0.8 in) of appliqué armour. The late production versions of the T-72B/B1 and T-72A variants also featured ……….
Because the picture is so far away and it is difficult to discern a lot of information , Ironically in a fit of frustration from OGA Eugene4 ever he might of provided some information since i alluded to the fact that it is most likely the low boys carried at least two tanks it is possible some of the ERA was detached from the back of both the 1st tank and the second tank to make room for the second tank and to reduce the weight remember these tanks have to be carried across bridges.
I think the T72 b only has frontal ERA plates up to the midsection of the hull least from the manuals I saw online. Unless they added extra mods which I don’t think so. There is no extra kontact era somewhere.
Based on the unreliable WIKI the extra contact era is not for export it is only for Russia
Oga Rugged, Sri Lanka killed tens thousands of its own people with no regard for international law. Villages with suspected terrorists were raised down with indiscriminate rocket and artillery fire. Of course we can replicate this by evacuating civilians where the terrorists are strong and carpet bombing the entire area. We can forget 3about the 300 girls and napalm the Sam is a to smothering so, Nigeria have scores of cluster munitions.
Point: Sri Lanka and Northern Nigeria could ad will be Earth and Jupiter, they are world’s apart. What is obtainable in a country half the size of Lagos will not necessary be the same in a country that holds the distinct fact of having the largest Christian and Muslim population in Africa. Boko Haram is 30,000 man strong, some say even more. These men come in 30 to fifty trucks a times, with solid Intel they never attack a place without a 3 to 1 ratio advantage. We are fighting an enemy with two times the size of the Cameroonian army, our major geopolitical foe in the region. We’ve been fighting alone for 5 years without making any real acquisition. If you think we can defeat Boo Haram with our depleted stock of platforms think again. Why in the world should Boko Haram out spend the Nigerian 7th Division is beyond me..heck why are we fighting Boko Haram with a force two times smaller than theirs? Yet we have more satellites in Space than the rest of Africa, with the recent acquisition of the Stealth OPV ‘s and two of the most advanced maritime/aerial patrol aircrafts our surface fleet is second only to South Africa is St Sahara Africa. Our financial resource enabled Nigeria to do the unthinkable in the Ebola outbreak :kick out the CDC and mount our own response team, a fit yet to be replicated elsewhere. Yet 5 years into a brutal war of insurgency with our territorial sovereignty in jeopardy the best we can do is buy 4 helicopters, 2 VIP helicopter carrier, zero fighter get, zero MLRS, zero Tanks and an army without an air am. NIGERIA IS A NATION OF CONTRADICTION.THE PARADIM THAT DEFIES HUMINT LOGIC.
Oga Oje,
With all due respect, there is no such thing as a “clean” war.
People will die.
Just as 3 million biafrans died.
The point i’m making is that fixating on american weaponry that will never be sold 2 nigeria will not help us.
Thank you for your well marshalled points.
Oga Oje Spot On !!
Oga Ozed I agree with you. I am pro America but most times but I am beginning to believe in the CIA’s conspiracy theory. To prevent that we need to kick the yanks out. There are currently 80 U.S (non lethal)pop personnel in Nigeria, WHAT ARE THEY STILL DOING? ! What are they cooking? They don’t share Intel with the Nigeria military, they are not deployed in a combat capacity, what exactly are they doing here?
They share Intel with Nigeria on a very regularly basis. There are still orion and drone flights over the NE.The truth is that the BH guys have become so sophisticated and use a lot of feint tactics and maneuvers to deceive our operational center who normally provide Intelligence to enable the brigades draw up battle orders.
We need a surge ASAP in the NE with a definitive battle plan and the required logistics to finish this once and for all. All Passes have been cancelled for almost 3 years now but troops are just holding, though to be fair a lot of them are doing police work in most states. A clear, hold & build strategy would help.
But do the powers that be want it to end ? that is the million naira question ????
PART TWO
So far only two has been verified. We need a deep strike Dual fighter bomber Aircraft give me one JF-17 / SU27/ 30 so far we keep looking at photos..
219 girls have been missing for more than six months the fight and energy has been spent on NOMINATION CARDS and withdrawing security guard from the speaker.
@ A time when Maximum energy should be spent on wiping this scum of the face of the earth it just seems unimportant, irrelevant things like two vvip AUGUSTAS ARE BEING BOUGHT.
I honestly do not know who will be President in 2015 but by GOD there has to be an alternative to this SCHIZOPHRENIC administration who just seems tone deaf to the wishes of the people.
For the purpose of Balance and my Integrity and so you do not think I am supporting one party over the other, it is this simple : End this war GEJ you WILL MOST DEF WIN keep dragging your feet and not spending the money , time and effort that is required this administration will lose to fill in the blank and the first set of personnel to be fired will be the service chiefs because up till now they have not served GEJ to their maximum capacity.
Last point to make if BUHARI or fill in the blank comes to power EXPECT ATTACKS FROM boko haram to be even more FEROCIOUS because this will be a transition period it sincerely does not matter to them, one thing that boko haram has been very consistent about, they want to rule not just Northern Nigeria but the entire Nigeria.
By order of preference I am for Buhari – Oby Ezekwsili, Buhari- Rochas or Buhari – Oshiomole with the VPs groomed to take over in short order. Something shocking and drastic is required in the political space that upsets Apple carts in a painful and disorganized way and that is what should happen to these groups.
This war has cabalistic, oligopolistic and mafia-type tendencies beginning to feed on it. The Nigerian state should not share power with criminal organizations, jihadists, insurgents or ethnic militias. The President does not seem to mind it but then he does not seem to mind a lot of things. Apart from the CDS and NSA, I see nothing wrong with the leadership of our military institutions and the remaining service chiefs. The MOD is operating in passive aggressive mode for being dis respected early in his tenure. Those who did it have had nothing but regret ever since. In all these, leadership from the the man with the mandate in Nigeria has been very lacking.
Nice pictures of the T 72, let me be the voice of doom. You capture a T 72 exactly the same way you capturre a T 55, separate it from the infantry, immobilize it and fforce the crew out.
So whether we have T72, Abrams or T34s, if we are not revising or armoured/ infantry tactics we’ll lose tanks.
However the Scorpion is exactly the type of aircraft Nigeria should purchase, although its untested, it is an cheap, useful aircraft. If the fist examples work well then it should be assembled then built in Nigeria.
5 years to buy 4th Gen fighter, 5 YEARS. World War 2 lasted 5 years
OGA OJE much respect for your comments
Point of Correction
WW2 Lasted Six years September 1st,1939 – September 2nd 1945.
I am frustrated by Nigeria as a whole. Speechless.
Despite any spin, this link shows that the army is doing something
http://saharareporters.com/2014/11/19/boko-haram-shoots-nigerian-army-brigade-commander
http://odili.net/news/source/2014/nov/18/525.html
This is what oga Martin was talking about.
http://www.defenceweb.co.za/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=37048:nigeria-looking-to-buy-scorpion-jets&catid=35:Aerospace&Itemid
This story just will not die, maybe there is something I DO NOT KNOW I don tire.
Not necessarily o oga Jimmy.. blogs and news site have been known to regurgitate the same news from a particular source.
I know but I am just tired ,every silly story has to be investigated, una sabi say them no go gree give us nathing but una go still dey beg haba e don do naw no be one road wey man dey take waka rish market place eeewo, nah only dem waka come wit airplane pshaw.
Gentlemen, check out defence headquaters facebook page.
Some pictures from the fight in GOMBI, PELIA AND HONG.
Chinese APC in the lead in one of the pix…
Captured laptops, IED and ammunition.
That looks like the Bigfoot MRAP. Not an APC.
It is still quite vulnerable to large calibre bullets like the 12.7mm (from the ubiquitous Boko Haram DSHK guns).
Happily the MG mounted on this one looks like a DSHK as well not our usual 7.62mm MAG GPMGs (Lesson learnt i guess).
Sadly no T72 in sight. Guess those will come with time.
Tanx 4 the correction
See those tanks have done some damage to the enemy (Zachary’s picture), fighting continues to be very heavy with heavy enemy loses to men and material.
The enemy is described as determined but unskilled, I interpret the enemy action as desperate and failing.
Latest information.
A friend reported seeing 40 piece of the pictorial can’t verify quantity
http://defenceinfo.mil.ng/pictorial-on-sack-of-terrorists-from-gombi-pelia-and-hong/
Thank you oga rugged7 , Oga Martin Luther this is very up lifting news hip hip hooray to the BRAVE MEN and Women of the Nigerian Army more enjoyable is the destruction and CAPTURE OF equipment and Personnel , there is nothing more demoralizing to the enemy.
Gentlemen for all intents and purposes it appears finally the great offensive that we talked about for weeks on end, the surge started last week THURSDAY/ FRIDAY.
I want to say this before leaving let everyone of us pray that this momentum is unrelenting, let those who will not fight for Nigeria not be anywhere near this space of battle to contaminate those who are fighting. Don’t ever doubt the courage, resilience and tenacity of the Nigerian soldier, we should be ready for blow back.
ISN’T IT ODD : The very people who condemn Western education are using computers , laptops and cell phones, I guess no one should use western things except them, it is chilling how boko haram has evolved.
Please let me ask a simple question?
Which of you believe that local hunters removed BH from MUBI and are leading the fight against BH?
@Oga Martin Luther, I never believed that from the start! Those Dane guns and sticks can’t stop BH technicals……….It’s a;; propaganda by some quarters!
I hope it’s a strategy to raise the partisan spirit in the locals to make them play an active part in the struggle against BH.
Oga Obix
Nice to hear from you it does seem that we got some T-72 w/ frontal ERA any thoughts or hints of where these tanks came from Russia or Ukraine or Belarus?
You are getting it wrong, the CTJF can fight BH at a base, atavistic, paranoia generating level that no conventional army can. Also there are a lot of other almost ridiculous advantages; mob tactics, large numbers, improvisations that improve force agility, motivation coming from defending their communities, knowledge of and use of terrain. Take situational awareness for instance, only SFs of the NA probably have the training to stay inside the brush for hours, braving mosquitoes and reptiles to patiently observe massing enemy fighters that’s some really nasty boring stuff, however a CTJF scout team would do that naturally without missing a beat. So in a way they are insurgents to the insurgents.
They also have the myth of bullet proof magic working for them
Oga martin luther, the proper use of partisans or auxiliaries is a good thing.
The sunni “sons of Iraq” fighters gave the americans the advantage over the Al queda in Iraq insurgency.
The US is trying to repeat the feat with ISIS.
The CTJF know the land, they are highly motivated, and personally invested.
I believe they are in the lead, based on courage and motivation alone.
NA special forces should be experts at working with such groups to achieve a desired objective.
NA should train, equip but also supervise, embed with, and regulate these units or they would spin out of control, and would become counterproductive.
CJTF – I predicted such a unit would rise up, or was necessary on this blog in 2011/2012.
Based on my observation of other global counterinsurgencies.
Well it is hard for me to imagine that hunters and vigilantes can push BH to be honest, all my findings also speak contrary to the media hype. I think the hunters and vigilantes are on ground but not doing the front line work of facing AA guns.
Oga Martin Luther. I respect your hustle sir.
Why do we find it hard to believe that, owners, occupants, and residents of a land will soon enough rise up to defend, and reclaim what is theirs, this is only logical, resistance becomes the ultimate stance and approach to a decadent force bent on nothing but destruction and annihilation. Oga, please, we cannot afford to be swayed into nothingness, neither can we be so terrified by a bunch of ragtag terrorists who bank on nothing else but our inaction and fear. Propaganda from some quarters, will want us to believe that bokoarerams never get hungry, they never sleep, they never drink water, they never run out of ammo, neither do they ever leave a trail; i accept, this propaganda had been effective up until now, they hofed, pofed, and bomb, but certainly they have reached their peak, there’s nothing new in the kitty, they have gleefully reached the climax, and this apogee only births decline. Hunters and vigilantes supported by a teeming population obviously wreak havoc on these suckers, bringing home decapitated limbs as proof of their solid physical form. Of what use is an AA gun after bullets run dry? you can only push a people so far, far enough, they push back.
Pretty decent if you ask me. This is how the Nigerian military are trained and doctrined to fight. Counterinsurgency is every soldiers nightmare;
Nigerian army in Sierra leone raw combat footage, A FAR CRY FROM WHAT WE SEE TODAY.
http://www.gaskiya.net/
Interesting analysis on President Idriss Deby of Chad and Boko Haram
Gentlemen officers, I’m beginning to love this site.
The Guardian of Lagos has some nice photos of weaponry captured from BH but no story.
Can someone take a look and give us an idea of the calibre of these please?
http://ngrguardiannews.com/
Looks like some crude fabricated large calibre mortar. Necessity they say breeds invention.
Sadly, we are busy wringing our hands, crying and begging for the sympathy of the US. This technology is of course very crude, but one wishes our techies were even charged to evolve home grown solutions.
Where did they get the shells for that contraption?. Are the shells locally made, how were they molded, charged and fuzed?.
Cameroon and Chad are complicit in the resurgence of Boko Haram. Two months ago Boko Haram was negotiating for a Ceasefire, a week after that they Boko Haram is flush with “ransom” money from Cameroon. Then you have the Chadians stalling for time for Boko to re arm by lying to us they are negotiating for the release of the girls. Where are the girls? Why have Chad gone suddenly silent?
With so much going on there has been little or any info on the Navy
http://www.ngrguardiannews.com/news/national-news/187292-navy-to-take-delivery-of-vessels-aims-at-total-eradication-of-sea-piracy
NNS Centenary finished her sea trials in October and back for final system checks while the second completed hull left dry dock in September. The Navy indicated interest in a fixed wing aircraft for recon. that can drop some form of ordinance, but they have yet to follow through on it, lack of funds perhaps.
Wow thanks for the information. T-Mobile. America’s First Nationwide 4G Network
http://odili.net/news/source/2014/nov/19/305.html
Not everything in this report is as workable as it seems but there are a lot of things that my ogas have harped upon that is true.
http://www.vanguardngr.com/2014/11/army-promotes-three-officers-gallantry-north-east/
Great development. I sense the hush/hush policy is reducing. The Army hopefully is beginning to realize that with social media there are no secrets. Thus the only way out is to lead the way by releasing the information yourself to ensure what people hear has the right spin.
The next step is to copy the leading armies like the US Army by publicizing the citations from the medal awards/promotions.
We should expend as much effort eulogizing the brave as we spend prosecuting the cowardly and undisciplined.
I have said it before that these type of rapid promotions should take place for brave officers in NE war, people said it is not in line with normal procedure and regulations for promotion. Okay now, keep promoting tested and proven cowards then, abi?
Oga xnurr44, the best option in my opinion for NN is the ATR-72 ASW, one aircraft that does MPA, Recce, ISTAR, and Anti-Submarine & Anti-ship roles all on one platform, the cost is about $65 million per unit fully armed with all weapons and equipment options.
Lack of funds? Nigeria earns about $200 million every 24 hours from oil and gas sales. 3 units of the ATR-72 ASW will cost Nigerian navy only one day oil sales proceeds. If we have 3 units of ATR-72 ASW, still without any missile frigate or submarine in our navy, yet nobody will mess around Nigeria’s oil and gas rich EEZ oceans on which Nigeria’s survival depends.
It’s cheaper than buying missile frigates and submarines at a cost of $800 million.
I just pity Nigeria, no wonder our youths queue at foreign embassies for visas, when their own country is a mess that makes them sad, they seek happiness overseas….
Dear NAF, I like you and I greatly respect you as a force fighting for our fatherland Nigeria.
However, you embarrassed us with the Scorpion jet story.
The NAF air marshal said only 7 Helicopter gunships are operational in Nigeria, true ?
SIPRI shows we have 22 Mi-24/35 and Mi-171s armed delivered, add 2 that came in few months ago we have 24 units, say we lost 4 so far, then we have 20 helicopter gunships in NAF, so how come the air marshal says we have only 7 operational ?
NAF wants 12 Scorpion jets now and more later, means NAF has access to about $250 million now for new jets and about $120 million later, so NAF has at least $370 million budget for new aircraft….okay o.
JF-17 Thunder has targeting pods for guided munitions and a ground search radar with FLIR for stand off delivery of precision guided weapons at safe distance beyond Boko Haram anti-aircraft guns. Why not buy 6 units for $150 million fully armed with another $60 million all types of weapons and all types of pods, all full options, why not buy those for total cost $210 million and give Nigeria a 4th generation multi-role combat aircraft?
$160 million left in pocket, why not buy 10 Super Tucano for long endurance COIN with full options of FLIR, all pods and that newly developed radar from OrbiSat, plus all types of precision guided weapons for stand off attack against Boko Haram safely out of range of enemy air defence cannon, all total cost $160 million, why not?
The Scorpion is NOT cheap ! About $20 million to buy one without any weapons, and $3,000 per hour flight cost. Super Tucano is cheap, and only $9 million to buy one without weapons, only $500 per hour flight cost. Does Nigeria need a super expensive purchase and maintenance COIN jet like the Scorpion to defeat illiterate Bokos? What will you use against Chadian military then? Nuclear weapons? Think, yes think deep.
NAF is it true you have received new combat aircraft and still refuses to disclose?
NAF if you have secretly bought Su-30 Flankers or JF-17 Thunders, and the Super Tucanos, we will all forgive you your ‘sins’.
What will you gain from secrecy when the countries that sold to you know all your secrets, and they are foreigners, while Nigerians are blinded in a democracy from what the military does with public money, my PAYE tax, my VAT, my oil, you spend and don’t give account to senate and reps, talk less of giving account to small me, why?
Can you play this game with Obama? You could not hide the desired Scorpion deal if you buy from America, so you published it, asking for sympathy from the world to help you beg America to sell to you, abi? Why don’t you hide the whole deal as a top secret and warn Obama not to disclose it to American public?
You see why America is great and Nigeria is not great? It’s the way we behave in our country, we spend public money and give no or poor accounts, also we go with our millions of dollars cash on our knees begging America to please sell Scorpion jets to us because without it we cannot defeat Boko Haram….does Boko Haram even have any air force at all?
Nigerian army, if you cannot defeat Boko Haram without NAF air support, you are one of the worst armies on earth, Boko Haram did not go to military academy in USA and Europe, and Boko has no air force to help them.
Okay, NA and NAF, I like you because you are my dearly beloved blood brothers of Nigeria, please don’t let this embarrassments continue, save us, and in that way you save your own family and unborn future generations too. Get it? Yes you get it? You are intelligent enough to get my drift.
Oga Augustin,
Nigeria earns $400 million a day and not $200 million. 40 Barrels of oil reserve, we are talking $4 trillion here. Theoretically we can up defense spending to $10 billion without breaking our backs or depleting our foreign reserve. We can buy one full squadron of Gripen fighters or Su-35 Flankers. For some twisted reason we have a government who seems to have the political will to launch 5 satellites in orbit in a 6 year period yet lacks the political will to beef up its armed forces to confront this threat. If you observe anything that is little or no government involvement succeeds.
The music industry
Nollywood
Telecoms
Nigeria’s Space Admnistraion
Success against Ebola…
Its no ricket science the connection between their success and governments little investment.
Defense
Electricity
Pipe borne water
Infrastructure
NTA
Super Eagles..
Its no rocket science why these are the most dysfunctional sectors in Nigeria.Without the political will to end the insurgency no matter cost arms procurement will sit on the back sit. In the eighties we flew 4th Gen fighters like the Jaquar, fast forward 25/30 years we are deliberating on buy Tucanos, Czech trainers and now Scorpion. Should Buhari eventually succeeds in his quest for the Presidency i believe the Nigerian military will be completely overhauled and re organised and funding will not sit in the back burner.
I don’t trust any Nigerian who has ever held any political office in his life time, they all contributed their big share to the big mess we have today.
Nigerians have criticized all presidents and heads of state, none of them is good enough in our eyes, we forget that Nigerian leaders are all products of Nigerian society, you only get the kind of leaders your own society produces. Nigerian police is very corrupt because Nigerians are generally very corrupt. Students embezzle money from university students union and grow up to steal federal funds as senators.
General Domkat Bali said Nigerians just want change of leadership for the sake of change…
Balewa, incompetent
Ironsi, from the east, not born to rule
Gowon, stayed too long
Murtala, becoming communist
Obasanjo, gave power to the incompetent
Shagari, watched economy collapse by looting
Buhari, brutal with drug pushers
Babangida, strangled economy to death
Abacha, killer squad baron
Abdulsalami, a soldier should not rule
Obasanjo, hated with passion
Yar Adua, too sick to rule
Jonathan, too weak to rule
Next…next man to be crucified please…
Balewa, Ironsi, Gowon, Murtala, Shagari and Buhari were upon reflection good leaders letl down by the excesses of their political base or internal conspiracies.
Give me that thing you took,..i promise i wont tell anybody.
It was Jack Daniels, not more than two glasses.
My brother you don talk am.
It is even worse now. Social media and Internet penetration has made the presidency a very transparent and much criticized position, where people can only be appreciated in hindsight.
Think about it, GEJ is the first Head of state to be subjected to the full glare of the harsh light of the social media, and believe me it will not change, the next person will face an even more critical and exposed Nigerian public. In my view this is good for the Country.
The only areas which remain opaque and in need of rigorous examination and criticism are the States and Local Governments. The day those levels of government are subjected to the minimum levels of accountability we demand from FG, this Country will finally begin to know real economic growth. This is because, it is these levels of Government that can directly impact the everyday life of Nigerians from Monday Morning.
I believe we will get there (provided our politicians don’t tear the Country apart first).
My Oga’s, it doesn’t sound right for soldiers talk so much politics or even engage in indirect campaigning. Many regular readers of this blog (like me) get turned away by the increasing sentiment and increasingly open politicking.
We are attracted here for patriotic reasons; by the pride in our country this blog traditionally evokes, for the love of our army, to hear our soldiers discuss with the sort of dignity and gravity carried so well by the likes of Oga beegs, Oga mcShegz, Oga obix, Oga peccavi Oga Saleh, Oga ocelot, Oga rugged7, Oga Martin Luther and several others I haven’t mentioned.
Please, can political sentiment be ruled out? As an irregular contributor, I hope I am not being forward.
God Bless Nigeria.
http://saharareporters.com/2014/11/22/political-associate-chadian-president-idriss-d%C3%A9by-arrested-missiles-meant-boko-haram
If there is anyone out there who still thinks Boko Haram is wrecking havoc to Africa’s biggest army all on its own resources without outside help,,,,well now you have yor answer. We are not fghting Boko Hararm, reports of Caucasian and foreign looking fighters are true, we are fighting Chad, Cameroon, France,….. all of whom have a lot to gain to seethe disintegration of the Nigerian State. Crying to the United Nations will be a waste of time. I saw we begin a massive rearmament immediately and prepare for full scale military offensive against targets in Chad and Cameroon. The experienced 7th division should be left to handle Boko Haram. President IIdriss Déby Itno and his cohort Paul Biya must be made to pay for the death of thousands of Nigerians.
Think of what those SAMS would have done to the feeble subsonic fighter jets the Nigerian air-force seems addicted to.
@Gen Oje. Until we have the means to convert Paris to the city of”radioactive light”, it would be stupid to confront them directly. A full scale invasion of Cameroon or Chad would be suicide, there are more than 1 way to skin a cat.
Whats worse, i heard our presido Jona allowed himself to be swindled millions of dollars by President Debir for the ”supposed negotiation” for the release of the girls. Clueless President.
Eugene, it appears you dont know what you are saying. What will stop the Nigerian army in Cameroon or Chad? You think this is Boko Haram where they play hide and seek? Is the collusion of Cameroon and Chad against Nigeria not disastrous enough? can it get worse than this? What good is having the largest army in subsaharan Africa if we do not use it to defend our territorial integrity. This is the role of the armed forces in the Nigerian constitution and i tell you right now we are facing a myriad of threats. We either act now in a timely manner or sit and do nothing.
Even if the frogs decide not to get involved directly, what stops them from wet – leasing (aircraft & crew) Rafales and Mirage 2000’s to both Cameroon and Chad? The French loaned the Iraqis Super Étendards, during the Iraq and Iran war.
With our GPMG and ack-ack based air defense system, I wonder what would stop an attack on our strategic interests?
Its in our best interests to suck up to the Russians, get 4.5 gen aircraft’s, up-graded T 90s, first line IFVs, ATGMs, ManPADs, S 400 and BUK air defense systems BEFORE we try treating their fuck ups.
We have tried to explain to you on this site several times that in the new world order, you cant go and invade a country because you have a good reason (in your own view) and you feel that your army can overwhelm them. Reasonable people don’t think that way anymore. This is 2014.
At the same time I am not saying that you should do nothing. There are many option available which may include, covert action, political destabilization, economic attrition and regime change. Only a mentally lazy person would jump in there with guns blazing like a vandal.
@Gen Oje. Your thinking is similar to that of the Georgian government before they launched an attack against the Russian “protected”South Ossetian government. 4 days and the war was over. WHAT happens when the Frogs decides to intervene in support of their puppets and park an Aircraft carrier in the Gulf of Benin and 3 Squadrons of Rafales in the CAR? In a clear, conventional conflict, Chad and Cameroon have a back up plan in the name of France, in our case who is our back up? The Americans, British or Germans? Definitely not the Russians, whom we just snubbed.
@Eugene, when and how did we snub the Russos?
We are still busy begging america for second hand and low grade lethal weapons, AFTER the Russians ASKED us to present them our weapons wish list. We could have gotten T 80’s from Russia but instead opted for Ukrainian T 72’s.
Well, the contract for the T-72 were signed a long time ago. As we speak over a thousand men and women are undergoing “special” training in Russia. Though some weapons are being bought from Russia unannounced, i agree with you that we should stop begging the West for weapons and just present our wish list to Russia. For now i wont call that a snub.
Once again all is quiet on the North Eastern front (at least as far as we can see from the press). We have just blunted the enemy thrust just as we did at Konduga. But again Instead of keeping them guessing and unsettled, we have retired back to our defensive and reactive posture. Meanwhile Boko are licking their wounds, rearming and in the meantime attacking soft target again.
In my view, this is the time for the Special forces and the Airforce to collaborate and keep the enemy off balance. During Ihejirika’s time this was more common, with raids on Boko camps. Now we are far more conventional and reactive rather than proactive.
My Solution to ensure that Boko can never muster the might to attack and hold territory again:
1. 3-4 man special force teams equipped with good telecoms living out behind boko lines for 1 week at a time, avoiding contact and reporting movements, troop concentrations, supply lines, supply dumps etc. They would be able to call in airstrikes, artillery strikes or larger special forces strikes on these locations
2. Special forces teams of 15 to 100 men depending on the nature of the target. This size of strike teams would allow us to equip them to US/UK standards i.e. Night vision equipment, high end body armour, higher than normal proportion of ammo per man, 3-4 GPMGs per 15 men, 3-4 Semi automatic grenade launchers per 15 man team, GPS location equipment, 2 snipers per 15 man team, Improved mobility for penetration e.g. chopper drops, All terrain bikes, bicycles or horses (please dont laugh there is no option here that the US does not currently use in its special forces. E.g. A horse will walk much faster than a man can walk, and will carry close to 10 times the quantity of supplies).
3. Modus Operandi would be to infiltrate at night, strike the next night (say by midnight) and exfiltrate under cover of darkness. Always avoiding any roads and going cross country.
4. Targets would include convoy ambushes, attacks on ammo and supply dumps, boko troop sleeping quarters etc. No need for anything sexy, just take up positions 100 – 200m to the target, blast it with all you have for 5-6 minutes, inflict casualties, destroy materiel and bugger off under the cover of GPMGs and snipers in over-watch positions to discourage any pursuit (note that pursuit would be most unlikely given the pitch darkness at the time of the attack, and the advantage the attacking team would have (night vision goggles, element of surprise etc.), before the enemy can respond the team would have vanished)
5. For really large troop concentrations, call in air strikes with cluster munitions to pulverize them.
This would keep the enemy guessing, also having teams constantly behind enemy lines would give an unbelievable amount of intel. e.g. for all we know, Gwoza might not have a very large garrison, or the enemy might actually currently be much weaker than we expected, which would enable us quickly catch them off balance with a quick conventional attack.
These strategies in my view can be executed even with what we already have, or can buy easily at minimal cost. We need to act faster and stay on the front foot.
Is Nigeria fighting a proxy war?
Oga Ozed, I think you’ve been reading too much Tom Clancy. Special forces will not work against an enemy who plays by their own rule. Let us assume Special forces wee on ground and able to locate targets, they will have to call in for an air strike, do you honestly believe that air strike request will materialise? We need to cut Boko finances and supporters. Anyone who says Nigerian politicians are complicit with Boko Haram is clueless…The enemy here is Idris and Biya, their actions are tantamount to a declaration of war on Nigeria.
I said air strike for large targets which would not move easily e.g. ammo dumps (therefore the airstrike can be carried out 2-3 days after).
By the way i hope you know everything Tom Clancy writes is based on what the special forces and secret services actually do. Tom Clancy doesn’t do science fiction you know?
I see you like the idea of war with Chad/cameroon, never fear nothing i am suggesting here stops you fighting your beloved war with your neighbors. Its also a much better option than sitting on our hands and waiting for the next Boko offensive.
PS i mean the special forces option is better than doing nothing.
The talk of Nigeria attacking neighbouring countries whether by air or ground forces should be confined to the imagination because it is an utter impossibility. The odds are against Nigeria. Our air force is bleeding, the pilots are poorly trained hardly exposed to international standards through refresher course and real time active missions. The condition of service in the air force is terrible. Ask a Nigerian pilot how much he is paid and you will be so ashamed to be Nigerian. The aircrafts are poorly maintained, the political will from top to bottom in the presidency and the military high command is lacking. Military chiefs who know nothing about aircrafts still decide which ones to buy with little expert input. A serving air force guy on an Engineering Msc course I met in England narrated how service chiefs order for aircrafts and hardware the way you buy gala on Ikorodu Road.
Does Nigeria even have special forces in the real sense of it? Something comparable to Seal Team Six, SAS, and Spetsnaz?
The last time an Italian and a Brit were kidnapped our so called special forces went in with Helicopter and Tanks with all the noise these make and ended up tipping the insurgents off.
I mean what sort of special forces go in burning tyres instead of lobbing smoke grenades?
The point is many people on this blog don’t realise how bad things are in the Nigerian forces. Things were so bad in the Nigerian army we had to seek outside help in Monrovia from the British to stop Charles Taylor’s NPFL rebels from surrounding and decimating the Nigerian forces? But even in those days, the security architecture in Nigeria still had some tactically sound and experienced officers.
Remember March-April 2006? Charles Taylor’s mysterious escape and recapture? Obasanjo was furious such embarrassing situation and had mandated the chiefs of the army, navy, airforce, police, customs, sss and even some from the guards brigade to find Charles Taylor which they security forces did.
What I’m saying is that things have depreciated in the Nigerian army and of course the security structure to the point it is childish to even talk of attacking a neighbouring African country, two Francophone countries for that matter with French forces overlooking our border from Mali, Niger, and Cameroun while the Americans and the British recon aircrafts and spy drones are tearing the Nigerian airspace up in what must amount to one of the most expansive aerial intel gathering mission on the African continent in recent history.
So we should accept the bitter truth, we don’t have the capability to attack Boko Haram within our own territory least established national forces be it those of Cameroun, Chad, Mali or even Benin Republic. The odds are against us. We would be on the wrong side of international politics, America or even Britain would not stand with us if France intervenes neither would any other country back us up at the UN apart from possibly China and Russia, two countries that presently have more than enough confrontation to deal with at home and with the West.
Ozed.. Boko Haram is a mobile force not a stationary one, there will be no ground target for any aircraft to destroy. These aircraft’s are notoriously very loud, especially the Russian helicopters, they can be heard from as far out as one or two miles and as we must have seen Boko Haram have mastered the art of camouflage hence the need for reliable Western aircrafts which can engage the enemy at unbelievable distances and have less cavitation noises to sneak up from no where and hit the enemy.Your call for inaction is suicidal at best and will most certainly lead to the disintergration of this country, while we keep folding hands they have adopted an ISIS style fighting, they marry ideology with conventional firepower.. a dozen of those intercepted missiles will lead to the collapse of the Nigerian economy. Our current of fighet jets will be blotted out of the sky before they reach their targets. whats worse, they can target civilian airlines (like the pro russian seperatist) with these missiles, it will take just the downing of two or three civilian airlines to ground this country to a halt. With one or two civilian aircrafts shot down no right thinking Nigeria will board a plane or fly as that can untimately be a suicide mission. They can smuggle it to Abuja and shoot down the Presidents aircraft and cause a bloody civil war that will make the Biafran war look like an album lunch party. What caused the Rwandan genocide? Rebels shot down the presidents aircraft killing all on board, what happened next is easy to guess,. by the time the conflict ended 3 million Rwandans have been killed… This is Rwanda o, a most homogenos ethnic group country. Nigeria has 250 ethnic groups and a deep religious divide. There is a clear and present danger, we see the signs yet we allow it to fester?Do yo notice each time a furor arises over possible complicity Boko Haram suddenly attacks Cameroon and kill Cameroonian citizens.. all staged to perfection.
Solution? Gather as much evidence as we can, mobilize for full scale offensive against Chad, launch a couple of artillery fire into ” thinly populated” villages in Chad against ”Boko Haram targets” publicly mobilze 80,000 men (for show), launch a diplomatic and propaganda war to the UN and provide evidence for the world to see. What is Chad gonna do?
Send its 6 Mig fighters? armed with what and to do what?
Roll out Tanks and attack Nigeria? How?
Invade Nigeria with its army? what army?
Mobilize its Navy? What Navy?
Counter insurgency as it may this is still the Nigerian army that silenced the Rebels in SL and Liberia twice. This is still the Nigerian army with airlift and logistical assets second to none in Sub Saharan Africa. While the war with Boko Haram is on there are still 100,000 + Nigerian soldiers idle doing nothing, deploy just 50,000 troops to the border(for show) and you have sent a clear message to Idris Derby that ”maybe i am taking this too far”. Do you seriously believe the Chad and Cameroon think they can survive an all out conventional war with the Nigerian military? Nope. Cameroon has just 4000 highly trained and well kitted troops and they mostly belong to the elite BIR, they rest 10,000 troops or more is no better than the Nigerian police and its air force is extinct.
Mr President, its time for 2015 elections campaign to get a back sit and Nigeria to say enough is enough and take a stand, if not by the time the election is over there will be no Nigeria to govern. Chads President is a criminal, he has his eyes set on Nigeria’s oil in Borno, he cant do that until Nigeria disintegrates.
Chynedo, i bid you to go look up stats and inventory of these countries militaries. You are in the comfort of your house in relarive safety and freedom hence you view Boko Haram as a far away problem we only see in televison like Syria. It is evident that no matter what we do Boko Haram will always be reinfred, how long do we continue this war of attrition? its wasteful and if not curtailed now by the time we finally decide to act it will be too late. As of this writing Boko Haram have taken over 20 villages, they control 20,000 kilometers of Nigerian territory, and have even started the process of printing money and appointing their own Emirs. They now use landmines, IED’s, Tanks, APC’s, Mortars and truck mounted anti aircraft guns. Now they know we are in the market for new fighter jets Chad president now sees it rational to upgrade their arsenal with surface to air missiles.. i will say it again SURFAE TO AIR MISSILES. The Nigerian army does not operate or field any SAM missiles, the closest we have are the ZSU and Roland which are at best battlefield air defence guns. Soon they will acquire Helicopter gunships,if that happens they can carry out attacks as far away as Lagos and there will be nothing in our arsenal to stop them should that happen. God forbid they dont suceed in getting Chemical weapons.
Its no coincident that the territory seized by Boko Haram is the same place Chad has an eye for to secure the oil wells, this can provide billions of dollars of hard currency to Chad and Cameroon. I have said it before and i will say it again, if by December ending the situation has worsened rather than get better i am abandoning this sinking ship and move to safety.
It’s funny you talk of stats. Yes these websites I have seen them, I do look at the global fire power thing, on paper it would look as if a battle would be tipped in Nigeria’s favour but if you think a battle is something rigid, something that isn’t fluid then you possibly need to check again.
With all these helicopters falling from the air against a ragtag group of Islamists, who are not even up to scratch compared to those in Syria or Isis, yet on paper, our military would have eaten Boko Haram like meat pie but what they put on paper is not what happens in a fight.
BH has no air cover yet our military is afraid of going to Gwoza, and are incapable of even attempting to venture into Sambisa nearly 4 years after. We might be a paper tiger, but we are not a real tiger. I used to belief all that but that was when all the info trickling in have gone unnoticed. Now it is obvious we have a military that is unable to fight £6 billion down the line and and extra $2 billion dollars yet nothing….
We have a military defeated, as Sun Tzu put it even before they have fired the first shot, a military decimated as much from within as from outside. How do we fight? With what?
It is even still hard for a lot of people to believe that hunters in the north east proved a better match for BH than our soldiers because the hunters felt there was more at stake for them because the places being bombed the people being killed were their home and friends so the morale was there but lacking in our soldiers who even with superior firepower, simply abandon position at the first sign of a firefight to manoeuvre into Cameroun.
I find it hard to believe you still think we could walk into our next door neighbour with guns blazing. It’s wishful thinking. If this was 1976 or 1985 I’d agree with you but not with these brain-dead people in firm control of the political apparatus and resources of the country, these brainless alcoholics herding the country headlong to a nasty crash
I don’t know whether you read what I have written to conclude I think of Boko Haram as a far away problem? I have ties in and around Nigeria, friends, family working and transacting all over Nigeria. You think if I thought BH is a detached issue, that I would even be here splitting my hair over it? Do you honestly believe I would?
My point is, we need an urgent dose of harsh reality. Do you know why things get worse by the day in Nigeria? Do you know why the people in Aso Rock all behave like people high on something? Do you know why people like OBJ who used to walk bare-footed with a bucket in hand to fetch water suddenly forgot what real hardship felt like and so failed to fix a lot of the same hardships he faced with holed up in Maiduguri?
It is because the moment these people step into the luxury of Aso Rock they are lost in the midst of their fawning advisers and the layers of security thrown around them, they become prisoners without even knowing it to the point for the 4 or 8 years in that position, the are detached from the reality in the country.
Advisers tell them what they want to hear, NTA broadcasts praises, friends and officials at every opportunity harass them with gifts, praise, and declaration of loyalty. They are suddenly treated like gods, military, police and even dss officials start picking these leaders perceived enemies to give them the sort of treatment to please oga.
I guess a lot of people are like that on this blog, we gloss over the truth, the reality because it hurts. Countries that have built strong, powerful and financially progressive nations have had at some point faced the bitter reality of their enormous shortcomings. The shock effect is what propels great nations even great personalities.
One famous writer was told by his professor with a good dose of mockery that he could publish a book only when pigs flew. The guy was greatly propelled to excel by that singular act of raw truth. We need to revive our country through some kind of shock therapy…before we completely become engrossed in this fairyland imagination that substitutes reality with fantasy because we cant afford to face the sordid state of things in Nigeria.
If only we could conjure some kind of Jerry Rawlings to purge this country’s political pavements of the vermin ravaging the country and its people. I’m not talking of our enemies but rather the people we pay to serve our interest because they are our real enemies. BH with a good leader would be wiped out in a matter of months, then we can turn to Chad and Cameroun to give them the sort of lesson that France or even the West would find too complicated to prove yet precise and a military finesse that the respect and the awe of its aftermath would becloud any real urge to get involved and like most masterfully enacted clandestine ops, any real inquiry would be lost in the maze of mere political condemnations and bland speeches in front of a curious but excited press.
Russian President Vladimir Putin once said the West have a special interest to see the breakup of Nigeria, i did not believe it then, now i do. Our Francophone neighbors have us surrounded, they have Boko Haram to keep us busy….well lets not worry, afterall our Anglophone allies will help us,…wait oh no,.. our Anglophone partners are conducing recon with drones and sattelites and relaying it to France on her request… the stupid ECOWAS organisation we have funded and created are minding their own business as usual. Ecowas used to be like NATO, an attack on one is an attack on all, this was seen in Liberia and SL and to a small extent Mali. Now the backbone of Ecowas is under attack and there is nothing from the Ecowas countries, not even verbal condemnation in an official capacity, there is no call for an Ecomog style military assistance, its like Ecowas have gone into extinction. We are forced to look up to Francophone Chad and Cameroon just to create a multinational security force of just 700 men, little did we know we are shooting ourselves in the foot.
Gentlemen, do u guys think Nigeria is fighting a proxy war with Chad? And why
Because there are potentially billions of dollars worth of oil newly discovered in Borno State. Cameroon have taken Bakassi from us, now Chad wants its own slice in Borno. And we have France, the Mali operation was a success and shone light on France back as a global power, now they want Nigeria out of the way.
Nigeria is not a giant as we assume, we might have a big population but population alone don’t make a country strong. Strong thoughtful leadership is what makes a country strong. Apart from possibly Zik and Balewa Nigeria have never had leaders who could use a drop of their brain cells. The same attitude has suddenly become a national tradition. We are a nation that hardly think. When the Germans were thinking of attacking the British whom they outnumber and outgun by about 3:1 the British were able to double their efforts to counter the Germans. Churchill offered the sort of leadership that was required. He had to overcome the sought of internal challenges that are even worse than any Nigerian leader had faced for the duration of our independence so far in his time as British prime minister, parliament was wary of Churchill, the elites were grumbling that he was about to through them into the deep, the press were slicing him to bits. Churchill persisted not by blocking parliament with hungry and angry looking police and plain clothes armed personnel but rather by superior logic, by hard work, by the sheer brilliance of his abilities, his skills to optimise national resources, his work ethics which robbed off on his country in a time of great panic and trepidation, he was not the most intelligent man but he knew how to explore and exploit the most intelligent of his countrymen for the greater good of his country.
So for us Nigerians, what makes us great? What gives us that right to think are better and stronger than any other country on the African continent other than our uncontrolled and reckless procreation? Look at Kenya, a country that may be about the same population or even less than Lagos, Kaduna, Sokoto, Port Harcourt and Kano yet it generates more in Tourism than Nigeria generates from any other resource outside oil. Yet we are always arrogantly claim to be stronger than other African countries. In Kenya, you could get on a bus without paying cash, you simply pay through your mobile phone. Kenya is building the most sophisticated homegrown tech economy on the African continent at the moment. Ethiopia is also modernising its economy, Ghana, Gabon and even Ivory Coast. As Nigerians, we could at least look at how powerful we are by comparing Nigeria’s efficiency in something as straightforward as Port services with our smaller neighbour Benin Republic with a population of 10 million which is even smaller than Lagos State yet the Cotonu port is a thousand light years ahead of the ports in Lagos and Port Harcourt. This shows how powerful we are as a nation.
DoI need to go on, if we lack the brain power to accomplish what a country that we outnumber 1 to 17 could do, imagine if this ratio were to be turned to a kill ratio which means 1 of their soldiers would kill 17of ours. There is what the Americans call force multiplier, a group of Polish soldiers with a few rifles once held a well equipped column of German soldiers for weeks even when they finally ran out of bullets, the German commander ordered his soldiers to treat the Polish commander and his remaining men with respect.
The point is, we are not better than other Africans militarily or otherwise. We have a bigger population but we are just not better in manage this advantage or even any other probable advantage by turning same into real quantifiable advantage.
It wont be a surprise if one of these countries give us the same type of military shock the Japanese gave the Americans over Pearl Harbour in 1941
While you hanker on the ills of Nigeria visavis other countries let me enlighten you for a sec:
1.Sheer liquidity : If Kenyas economy is a road side kioske Nigeria’s economy is a shopping mall. Paying for bus fares by phone does not cut it, in Enugu most cabbies run on meters. By PPP Nigeria’s GDP is $1.058 thrilion.It has a banking system more sophisticated than what is obtainable in Kenya and second only to South Africa.
2. Nigeria has the largest internet users in Africa, not just that not many will believe internet speed in Nigeria is unmatched anywhere in Africa. There are Nigerian companies producers vehicles in Nnewi. We have laptopm manufacturer Zinox in Lagos. Nigerian telecom is light years ahead of Kenya, GLO alone has a fibre optic cable stretching from Lagos to Portugal, imagine the engineering fit required. At a time when Kenya is now contemplating having a Space Agency Nigeria has 5 satellites in orbit, facilitating internet speed and telecoms, one of these sattelites were built from scratch by Nigerian engineers.
Healthcare: despite neglect by the government Nigeria’s health sector is relatively more developed and capable than what is obtainable elsewhere in Africa. The Americans are still scratching their head trying to figure out how Nigeria could contain Ebola all by its self with little support and in the middle of a ravaging insurgency. Nigeria is not Benin or Kenya, its a giant.
The richest black man and woman on Earth are Nigerians. It is Aliko Dangote who is building a $400 million cement facility in Tanzania, a $500 million sugar processing facility in South Africa, a $300 million facility as well in Kenya. The biggest foreign direct investors in Ghana is Nigeria, Nigerian Banks operate in almost every country in SSA.
What about Nollywood, and the music industry which is by far the most vibrant and lucrative in Africa. Look at our sporting infrastructure, the new stadiums being built. How about Lagos, building Africa’s biggest and most ambitious infrastructural project so far (EKO Atlantic), the engineering feat is bewildering, its the Dubai of Africa, nothing comes close, or is it the entreneurship spirit of out people?
Conclusion: your assertion of Nigeria not being a giant because we do not pay bus fares by phone or have good ports is borderline retarded. It is this ”We cant do it” attitude that is setting this country backward. In Ghana, Kenya etc we are seeing as giants despite the challenges. If you believe we cannot do anything militarily to stop this provicative financing of terror why are we even bothering sending soldiers to die in the front? Lets just fold our arms and go about our business and allow Chad or Cameroon do what they want, afterall ”we are not ready” to confront them.
You don’t have to be emotional to see the logic that Nigeria is getting every basic thing it should get right wrong. You seem to adduce the flawed sort of ad hominem that got us to where we are at the moment, that absurd fatalism sprinkled with an Orwellian sense of bountiful hope with a laughable yet silly Stalinist type patriotism.
You know everyone saw the Berlin wall crumbling except the Soviets who even a day or two earlier were busy pretending everything was well and have never been in better shape.
As Nigerians, we lot to pretend things never happened even when these get worse we still pretend it never happened almost like Boxer in Animal Farm
You are making a simple case complex. It’s simple, when Cameroon suddenly splashed hundreds of thousands of dollars to Boko Haram, we chose to willingly wish it away as not an act of funding our enemies but just paying “ransomes”, after all how can our neighbors possibly do this when they are in theory “trying to help us”. The supposed help was for a multinational 700 troops stationed at the borders. After much fanfare and various trips to France what happened? It’s been 5 months where are the troops? Now we see first hand a direct involvement of the supposed “peace maker” Idris Derby sending missiles to Boko Haram, this should read alarm bell but…..There has been no official condemnation or compliant, who cares.
One thing you should know, Boko Haram is not an army. A former U.S general Wesley Clark once said he would rather go to war with China than AlQueda. The U.S military will fare better against an enemy they can see, same with Nigeria. We have the resources and manpower to take on Cameroon and Chad simultaneously. It’s not about size, it’s about inventory. ? Do not mistake the 7th Division as the Nigerian army, Chad will not be facing the 7th Division should military conflict arise, neither will Cameroon. You think France under crises and stretched will risk all out war in West Africa?
@Chynedoo
Thank you for this good reply.
What is retarded, is your unbelievable yet childish rants, of invading other neighbouring countries even when it is obvious we not only lack the present capabilities given the problems in the North East which the military is bogged down with, the internal policing duties which are also involved in, the Niger Delta piracy and other acts of economic sabotage, then there are also our international commitments in Liberia, Sierra Leone, Gabon, Sudan, Mali etc where we maintain some units of our forces on International duties.
Again there is also a question of being a signatory to a number of international conventions any of which we would be contravening if we as much as stepped across the border with armed personnel even by mistake yet I have observed on this site that you keep raving about attacking blah blah blah neighbouring country as if it is the same thing like downing a bottle of gulder.
I doubt you think these issues through before you even post them and in my opinion, your thinking is, I’m afraid to say, less than what one hears in conversations between all those roughnecks and area boys in Ojota and Mushin bus stops. Retarded wont even be enough to quantify the infantile hogwash you post on here
Gentlemen, lets be realistic. I have always maintained that Nigeria is up against all of central Africa and these include goons from Chad, Sudan, CAR and Northern Cameroun, believe it or not. These guys have the affinity of religion and pursuit of pan Arabism and Islamaization. These guys can only be combated militarily. Nigeria needs to act now and fast. 350, 000 fighting men at list where Nigeria creates a buffer in Cameroun and Chad with at list 100, 000 thousand men.
Nigeria needs to sit tight and be like Israel and that is sitting in the mist of haters, these goons won’t stop coming to die on Nigerian soil for another 25yrs so why not take the fight to them.
@Martin Luther. A 350K man army, with a 100k man buffer zone, correct.
Only thing missing is where to get their arms and equipment. Except we have the military means & political willpower to project power long range, the virgin seekers and their sponsors will simply bleed us out.
You know one crazy reality Brother, that is that in war, you can loose all your battles and still win a war creating what is called a pyrrhic victory for the enemy which is a victory with such a devastating cost that it is tantamount to defeat.
And lastly, war is all about your ability to replenish human and material recourse at alarming speed, this is partly how the Russian were able to push back the Nazis. So your country better start an arms build up or face devastating blows to those same men and resources it dose not want to expend. At the end, weather you expend your human and material resources fighting or weather you sit down and let your enemies cart away your resources, either which way, your resources shall be expended.
I say it is better expended stand up in history
Cyber warrior, I am probably better than you in person. People like you are the first to pee in their pants or betray the country under the slightest duress,while you postulate your “logical academic crap” people are dying, yesterday 50, today 48, people will most likely die tomorrow and you wouldn’t give a shit would you?
It’s simple: This is where gunboat diplomacy should be played. To Cameroon or Chad” Stop arming and financing Boko Haram to kill our citizens or face military action” A large scale military exercise can follow next, it’s not rocket science. The president is mandated by the constitution to defend the territorial integrity of Nigeria and it’s people. We have lost 20,000 kilometers of land to Boko Haram, we have lost hundreds of soldiers, thousands of citizens, why? Because Boko Haram is what Vietcong is to U.S marines, “never ending stream of men and supplies from China” More than a million were killed yet they kept coming. At a time the army contemplated nuking Beijing. Nigeria does not have the resources to keep waiting men and years fighting a stupid war of attrition. To defeat Boko Haram we must cut of its finances. If they wanna fight no problem, let’s fight, but Chad and Cameroon should stop sabotaging our efforts simple.
Oga Martin Luther rugged you, please tell them Cyber Warriors.
Bokoharam supply line seem too coordinated and this is impossible without aid from a neighboring country. Simply put, BH is getting help from some one close by and this brings to mind questions like how do they resupply fuel and spent ammo? where did their AA guns come from? surely these where not Nigerian army loots, who provides service material for these guns? Which country close by is most likely to field AA guns as field support weapon (which country has that doctrine of AA in the theater for land based assaults)? The foreign contingent of BH fighters are mostly from which country?
Nigeria must mobilizes for a long drawn war if it wants to survive this onslaught and believe me when I say the storm is just raising. You may soon see a neighbor flying in jets cross boarder to protect BH columns and then what would you say to the Nigerian people? “I am sorry we are not prepared for this kind of war fare?” sorry statement.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-30167886
Chad is no longer an easy meat to bite and chew. If Nigeria buys new arms, Chad too will buy weapons. I was at a meeting few months ago as an observer, a white billionaire was addressing the African nations present, he said he took $300 million to Nigeria to invest in oil and gas mining, but was told his money is too small for Nigeria, so he took the cash to Chad, and Idris Deby accepted it and the man says he now has big oil mining business in Chad and the oil flow is now running into billions of dollars, Chad too is now rich !
Wonder why Chad recently bought 4th generation MiG-29 air superiority jets and new generation anti-tank missiles and anti-aircraft missiles?
Gone are the days when Buhari will use Scorpion tanks to chase Chadian army across border, if Nigeria tries that now, Chadian army anti-tank missiles will tear all Nigerian tanks into pieces.
Nigerian soldiers in battalions now run away from Boko Haram’s Toyota gun truck, how fast will we run when Chadian MiG-29 jets and Su-25 Frogfoot jets appear like thunder ?
Nigeria is in hot soup, we need to arm up to the level of South Africa or Algeria before we can subdue our enemies that have grown powerful overnight.
You know one crazy reality Brother, that is that in war, you can loose all your battles and still win a war creating what is called a pyrrhic victory for the enemy which is a victory with such a devastating cost that it is tantamount to defeat.
And lastly, war is all about your ability to replenish human and material recourse at alarming speed, this is partly how the Russian were able to push back the Nazis. So your country better start an arms build up or face devastating blows to those same men and resources it dose not want to expend. At the end, weather you expend your human and material resources fighting or weather you sit down and let your enemies cart away your resources, either which way, your resources shall be expended.
I say it is better expended stand up in history
Lol, it amazes me when Nigerian keep making excuses for mediocrity and failure. Mig 29 you say? You do realise there are more than 100,000 idle Nigerian soldiers as we speak doing nothing in their barracks, Mig 29 does not win wars, those Migs are not fitted with smart bombs. Nigerian soldiers ran not because they were scared of bullets but because they were outnumbered 3 to one, do you honestly see that happening against Chad? You Augustine were the first person to vehemently defend the Presidents decision to accept the bogus ceasefire agreement, now you sit in your chair content with the machinations of our neighbors in our affairs.
Hmm @ 100k idle soldier, I don’t think the total manpower is that much. It’s an assumed statistics
All this talk of invasion. Lol.
Isn’t the common sense approach to snuff out supply lines to the enemy? Apart from frontal attacks, why is there no effort to interdict supply lines which BH has control over. Why are they not trying to take back border positions that is next to these purported external financiers! The SAA apart from other theatres, also fought to control their borders with Lebanon, Jordan and a bit of Turkey after their almost fruitless battles against the opposition who were replenishing ranks,support et al then.
If this current government was in power then, we would have lost portions of our countries to Cameroon, Chad,Biafra and all other previous military engagements against us by neighbours. Not less, and rag tag army now.
**a rag tag…
We don’t seem to want to admit to our selves we have gone beyond the point of no return, with our backs to the wall, this is now worse than Biafra. Do you have any idea what those intercepted (thank God) 19 missiles could have done to our airforce? They would have rendered them extinct. Those missiles will bring down civilian airlines, our country will ground to a halt, air transport will be impossible, they can shoot down the presidential aircraft like they did in Rwanda and start an apocalyptic Civil war. There is still no official response from our government, there is no UN inquiry, it’s not even on the news. Nigeria is on for a very rough ride. Boko Haram need not overstretch itself by sending fighters to the South, they have a 7,5000 mile Caliphate now, they have their own flag. Soon Boko Haram will purchase missiles , rockets and God forbid chemical agents. They can launch indiscriminate artillery and motar rounds as far away as Abuja if their advances is not checked, they can hit Lagos with missiles. We must eliminate Boko Haram finances and supply routes, what factories are their bombs made? Who pays the recruiter? Who provide them drugs? Who controls the supply route? Who are the proxy between Boko Haram and armed dealers in Libya, Chad and Sudan. The French have aerial surveillance assets in Chad, are they complicit? The Americans have Reaper Drones based in Niger, why aren’t they taking action?
Wow you are right. They might even get stealth aircraft and ICBMs.
Once again we go to Chad
Oga Martin Luther: good question.
My take. We are and we aren’t. Chad is a desperately poor country ruled y a guerrilla fighter with a plethora of enemies, if you look at the pattern of Chadian entanglements they generally utilise existing groups directly and indirectly either by using demobilised fighters or Chadian mercs/ criminals.
I do not believe Chad orchestrated the BH issue but they have taken advantage of the situation.
I would guess the oil is the key consideration as well as trying to ride the tiger to prevent Boko Haram from tuning round and attacking their pipelines.
Long and short is that the military end of Boko Haram is in Cameroun, the intelligence/ supply is Chad. There is a nexus of politicians and businessmen rom Northern Cameroun, Chad and Northern Nigeria who have cases to answer.
However unless we get our house in order we have no leg militarily or other wise with foreign countries.
Well spoken. Men !
More importantly, this is not the government that is going to do Jack about any of these threats. The govt is resourced with individuals who just don’t see things outside parochial and cabalistic business interests. @Oje made the valid point that the news of the MISSILES came and went without a single official response from Nigeria even though we are the immediate threat, I however would differ and say that I think there was indeed a response but it was most annoying kind.
My president hopped on a jet again for Ndjamena for what purpose only God knows.
A true regional power would call the Chadian Ambassador to Aso Rock for a verbal hiding, our ambassador in Chad would be called back for three months, Nigerian airforce would do a show of force in the region, the UN security council would be informed, pressure would be mounted via the AU and ECOWAS. Finally the President takes a trip not to Chad but to Moscow with the Minister of Defence in tow and an expanded shopping list in the briefcase. That is how a regional power acts. What we have seen so far is a bunch of incompetents in office, misadvised by mediocre diplomats, shoved forward by their tired ex head-of-state mentors from another era, scrambling all over the place but completely out of depth with someone elses rapidly unravelling master plan for the region.
heheheehehe, Oga Nnamdi, you too much, lololo, Shey i don turn to Transformation Ambassador of Nigeria abi??? nooo, no be so ohh oga, i just get plenty ginger wey dey make man mind coole, I go fit pass am round if you want ohh, sabi guy. hehehehe…
Oga Nnamdi. I respect your hustle sir.
@Mshegz…
Issokay o! Keep gingering ya sawgger. Nothing do you brov.
NAF chief publicly admits that it has received brand new and second hand combat aircraft.
Tell me we have not seen something like this before.. Where are the 40 Helicopters we was suppose to have received before August? I get sick and tired of military chiefs going on about incoming expectant platforms without giving numbers or specifications.. I will believe when I see them.
Please wake me up when they arrive. ZZZZZZ
My guess is L159ALCA and maybe low cummulative life Alpha jets from God knows where. @Zachary999 may have been right as far as the modest ambitions of NAF is.
Oga Augustine, we hear this same news every now and then including the purchase of the ‘latest fighter jets in the world’. Let’s wait and see. Going by the CAS’s statement, the said jets are not delivered yet and i quote ” the CAS disclosed that some new and reactivated platforms would soon arrive the country to join the aircraft in the NAF inventory’. Why the secrecy?
Oga Augustine, like Mc Shegz, let me respect ur hustle. Its good news that we’ve acquired more platforms. But on second thoughts, i have noticed over the years since the beginning of this insurgency that the NAF is not able to simultaneously scramble more than 2 armed jets on combat missions. Even those scrambled are very poorly armed – From time to time, we hear the jets ran out of weapons and had to return to base. Lets remember the new F7s we purchased, how many missiles or even free fall bombs came with that??? Let me also add, we’ve heard these same stories over and over again, and its beginning to sound boring. When a country is serious about re-equipping its military, the whole world knows how they go about that. You may submit a Request for information to suppliers or you just take your list to BRICS and get what you want. But I guess Nigeria is always a different case entirely.
NA has received second hand Russian IFVs…Enter the BMP-2…news from impeccable source on battlefield, Oga Henry will soon get photos.
Same source says new tanks coming in to replace Vickers tanks.
Pop champagne !
Unit we know the number and quantity of said IFV and Tanks.. I will keep my fingers crossed. If I get a dollar for everytime we here claim of platforms coming in.. I would be a very rich man.
No champagne popping at all. They give us crumbs and we pop champagne for them. The same BMP-2 Uganda purchased in 2003, that is what Nigeria Army is procuring in 2014? Algeria upgraded its 300 BMP2 to BMP 2M (with additional grenade launchers) in 2006. The Nigeria mode of defense acquisitions are sickening.
Oga Augustine, he still hasn’t yet sent the photos oh. Na wait I still dey wait so. He said this week though. This is still tuesday, i’m still hopeful.
The way this war is being managed don de tire person small small. While we are planning one final knock out punch and waiting for SU25s and all other manner of modern equipment, Boko haram has struck already twice in the last 2 days:
– first an attack or capture of Damasak
(Same old, tried and tested tactic. Send in an advance party which the NA will usually repulse. Wait 7-8 hours and then send in the main attack. Obviously after identifying the key positions of the defending troops and before the NA’s ponderous logistics can resupply the forward troops. The results are same every time, the troops exhaust the balance of their ammo and have to retreat)
– Just now suicide bombing at Monday market in maiduguri
I had suggested small unit attacks by Special forces to keep the insurgents off balance and busy protecting their caliphate, but what do i know?
I dont know how Boko could muster 500-600 man attacks with tons of ammo and mechanized vehicles if they have no supply lines, ammo/fuel dumps, form up areas for their attack troops etc.
Why we don’t see these as good targets for attack (by special forces since we lack the air power for any sustained operations right now) really beats my imagination.
http://defenceweb.co.za/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=37127:ghana-to-acquire-super-tucanos-z-9s-mi-17s-and-c-295s&catid=35:Aerospace&Itemid=107
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_War
Dear All,
Please try and study the Toyota wars and see if you can find any similarities with Bokoharam escapades in Nigeria.
What do you think?
For me, I have always thought that BH has the same template and is same master minds are executing their old game. Idris Debby and active participant is still running shows in Chad. No saying I know anything but strategy wise can find a difference.
for example:
”…..Habré selected as the first target for his reconquest of northern Chad the well-fortified Libyan communications base of Fada. It was defended by 2,000 Libyans and the bulk of the Democratic Revolutionary Council (CDR) militia (Gaddafi’s closest Chadian allies), well-provided with armour and artillery. Hassan Djamous, the thirty-year-old FANT commander-in-chief, pitched about 4,000–5,000 men against Fada’s Libyan garrison.[16] Taking advantage of his army’s superior knowledge of the terrain, which apparently included unknown access points to the base, Djamous avoided a frontal assault and used his forces’ high mobility to surround the Libyan positions and then unleashed his troops, destroying the defending garrison. In the battle, 784 Libyans were killed and 100 tanks destroyed, while only 50 FANT soldiers died.[21][22]….”
Again does the below sound familiar:
”….In March 1987, the main Libyan air base of Ouadi Doum was captured by Chadian forces. Although strongly defended by minefields, 5,000 soldiers, tanks, armored vehicles, and aircraft, the Libyans’ base fell to a smaller Chadian attacking force led by Djamous equipped with trucks mounted with machine guns and antitank weapons. Observers estimated that, in the Chadian victories in the first three months of 1987, more than 3,000 Libyan soldiers had been killed, captured, or deserted. Large numbers of tanks, armored personnel carriers, artillery, fixed-wing aircraft, and helicopters were captured or destroyed. In some cases, Libya sent its own aircraft to bomb abandoned Libyan equipment to deny its use to the Chadians. It was reported that, in many cases, Libyan soldiers had been killed while fleeing to avoid battle. At Ouadi Doum, panicked Libyans had suffered high casualties running through their own minefields.[25]….”
Also note that the Chadian capital is almost right in the theater action is taking place. Infact, it is closer to the Nigerian boarder directly across Cameroun than Maiduguri is. So I wonder what manner if influence we may be having when the strongest man currently in the Chad basin is sitting a stone throw from where the action is taking place.
Just guessing as I can’t have more influence in the Vatican than the Pope’s doorman
Thank you. A few of us had come to the same conclusions sometime last year. The tactics are the same, weaponry the same and maybe a few veterans of the Chadian have even crossed south to anchor operations for Book Haram here.There is no static army that can take on an insurgent group that is using these tactics. Everything they teach in Sandhurst is irrelevant now and air support is very key.
Oga Martin Luther, the capture of the Ouadi Doum air base was a milestone for the Chadian forces. But there’s something we were never told, and that’s- the fact that such successful operations were organized and led by the French foreign legion! Their role in that war was never mentioned at all………
I have kept quiet as the praise for the chadians grew to crazy levels.In the early 90s, I had a scottish friend who fought in the French legion,he told me specifically how they routed the libyans and posed with heads. During the war in Mali ,I will go there the chads were used as forward observers/cannon fodder by the french as a result some of their casulaties per engagement were pretty high, They recorded 26 KIA.As soon as the french withdrew they also withdrew. This is something that should be taken into account. Oga augustine I am with you,if the f.g. finally realised the foolishness of its ways and has bought T 72s and the Bmp2 to me personally as late in the game as it is, provided the crews are taught/trained properly it is game changer. T-Mobile. America’s First Nationwide 4G Network
BMP-2s on the way..what a wrong purchase!! Of what use are BMP-2s in 2014? When BMP-3s were going into production in ’87? Pop champagne? we need an IFV that will fit our requirements for the current CT-COIN operations, and we get BMP-2s? And now we know what will replace the Vickers..Thos crappy old T-72s from Ukraine..when Algeria is stocking up on T-90s..ok o.
That is Nigeria for you.
I used to be critical of the United States over its refusal to sell Nigeria advanced weaponry, no right thinking country will sell its advanced military hardware to a country that is evidently not interested in fighting. You saw how ISIS captured dozens of American Tanks in ISIS, America knows the Cobras will find its way to Boko Haram. Its amazing that 72 hours after irrefutably evidence rather than confront Idris Derby we have the President of the wealthiest country in Africa who has the largest army in Sub Saharan Africa paying visits to Chad, a nation that until recently people didnt know it even existed. 8 years of weak Nigerian leadership by President Jonathan has left a free for all in the region, everybody garbing what they can. Cameroon screwing us in the rear, South Africa spanking us with diplomacy down south, Chad sending missiles up North, France providing hundreds of thousands of dollars to her puppets, Americans indifferent to a dysfunctional army, Ecowas by and large quiet. Now just imagine Ghana, GHANA of all countries in peace time acquiring Super Tucano fighters and M-17 helicopters, something the Nigerian military at war awash with petrodollars have been unable to do in 5 years. I shake my head, this must be a bad dream, i want to wake up. The sheer incompetence and lackluster response by our government is beginning to look scary,.
Let’s hope they don’t get their Super Tucanos before ours arrive. Did we even place orders for them?. They are dead set on Chinese choppers which I wont recommend but at least that some decisiveness and forward motion.The article seems to indicate that their MI 17 chopper assets stock is currently larger than ours, how does a thing like that happen?. Back home, NAF just promoted dozens to AVMs last week, how do you justify a thing like that when you probably don’t even have up to 24 functioning combat aircraft?
Cameroonian security forces doing their thing.
…. then Chad.
Suddenly military operations against Chad and Cameroon seem like a bad idea.
Lord Oje, finally you see what people have been telling you since tay tay. How can you hope to conduct an invasion on foreign countries when you cant even secure your own territory against insurgents.
We must focus on boko haram to ensure we are not embarrassed further. After that we can repair our conventional war capability, plan for our neighbors and discipline them.
God! We grew up thinking we were citizens of a country with the most powerful army in black Africa, not realizing sorry and selfish crop of leaders had deliberately crippled our military all because they were enjoying the oil money and did not wish for another military coup to take it from them. Obasanjo is guilty in this. Yaradua had the vision for a reorganised and resurgent army. His administration initiated the Drone partnership deal with Israely Drone manufacturer Aerostart, unfortunately ill health ensured that dream never came to fruition. Enter President Jonathan,the first ever President of Nigeria that was not an Igbo,Yoruba or Hausa man, the son of the Niger Delta has proved to be the worse thing that ever befell this nation This is suddenly beyond comprehension. If Oga Beeg has given up and decides not to return i understand. This nation is a nation like no other, being patriotic is just wasting your time. Our President is in Chad, soon he will fly to France and Cameroon. We live in a delicate time.
Jonathan in Chad, is it second, third time? The army, or is it the military are just standing by, waiting for a commander in chief that is either in utter self-denial of the enormity of the threat or is both being misled and unwilling or unable to show that Duracell type doggedness that is frighteningly absent in this government.
It’s just one terrible blunder after another, and then another and they are just in about everything, diplomatic, political, projection of both military and economic might within Nigeria’s zone of authority in West Africa and even beyond.
The signs are just too absurd and surreal at the same time, as far as Nigeria’s current anti-terror war and her regional standing in the balance of power in the West African region is concerned. International politics makes it dangerous for a regional power to capitulate to and for whatever reason in its spheres of authority, we are creating a dangerous vacuum within our backyard where we usually exert an enormous amount of influence.
In as much as it is obvious that we need to fix our military institutions if we must remain relevant in the balance of power in Africa, we should rejig our bland foreign policy from a non-confrontational, non-aggressive, non-aligned one to a solid foreign policy that is pro-active, calculative, geo-politically sound, smart, and resilient.
If our foreign policy is worth the paper being shuffled around the pavement of the diplomatic and foreign policy nucleus, it would have been unthinkable for Mr President to behave like a postal clerk on an urgent mail round to N’Djamena when it should be the Chadian president that is supposed to receive the usual ‘Friendly invite’ to Abuja for which the very serious consequences of snubbing such invite by Abuja would be too real to bear.
I should add, that the events prior to 2010, events prior to 2007, events connected to the tussle between an unelected spouse of a ill/deceased president, and a not-so-sure vice president, events leading to the selection of a tag team in 2007 that was anything but a vengeful reward for a failed grandeur, were singularly and jointly the beginning of our current diminished status in our own backyard. The whole world watched in horror, as a country was ran for months from the desk of Saudi Officials.
We must have been so stupid not to have allowed those who had the guile to take what is not theirs to continue than to give it to those whose lack of shoes have so rendered them psychologically invalid, mentally incapable and physically absent to the point a country of 170 million people piss in their pants at the mention of a bush dwelling gang of murderers numbering a few thousands, and even our number one commander now defers to the head of a country of 12 million, a country that is not even a match for Lagos state.
May cowardice be struck with a sugar cane!
Ogas whether you like it or not you need to pop champagne for BMP-2. First time in Nigeria’s oil rich 54 year history our army got a real IFV with 30mm cannon and 3km range. Cobra has been our fake IFV and Boko has been eating us for breakfast, making us run from 23mm cannon Toyota and abandon our Cobras for Shekau to use in making humiliation videos.
Pop champagne, Togo republic and Sierra Leone bought BMP-2 for their small armies long before Nigeria, but at least we have joined the club.
Half bread is better than none, one battalion of BMP-2 is better than zero battalion of BMP-3.
Augustine, i will agree with u here. But i will save the champagne and pop bottled water for now. The otokars were purchased bcos a certain former military ruler had to be appeased by OBJ with a mouth watering defense contract. Thats the only reason we purchased those things, and we got the most basic of them. And who suffers for corruption and padi padi contract in defense acquisitions? The poor foot soldiers and citizens in remote towns.
Oga Oje from your video of the Chadian army, do you see that Nigerian army is not better armed except for our higher number of foot soldiers? Then Chadian army is full of Toyota technicals that Nigerian soldiers run away from.
When Nigeria fights Chad, they can spring up deep behind Nigerian army frontlines with Boko Haram style attacks and urban guerrilla warfare that Nigeria will find hard to tackle, Chad has discovered how the elephant screams for help when a termite enters inside his eardrum and bites the giant form inside, the giant runs to America for help that he will not get and blames his pain on some NATO countries that did not sell weapons to him.
He did not remember how many times he was warned for many years that the best time to prepare for war time is peace time. Ghana is preparing for insurgency and buying Super Tucanos, Nigeria saw insurgency in Mali and waited for the same insurgency to mass rape-mass murder Nigerians at home before running around to buy second hand weapons in panic around the world.
Democracy is beginning to look like a cancer. 8 years of democracy our nation is tittering on the edge of apocalypse, collapse. The military might be bad but we have 5000 civilians killed every year when we are not at war with any external foe. Nigeria is now like Lesotho, a sovereign nation exists right inside our country yet we hear more about the 2015 elections than the constant killing of Nigerians virtually everyday now. As usual the President does not address the nation, half the time i doubt he knows whats going on. These same people crippled the military and starved it of funds because dem dey fear coup, now the military you handicapped you send them to the battle field to die. When are security forces are so battered than human survival instinct takes over and we start seeing mass desertion who will protect our vital economic and social interest?
Oga Oje,
Sorry to ask o, but how old are you?
How much of military rule did you experience? The rot you describe in our military was actually inflicted mainly by military rulers and abetted by OBJ another product of military rule.
Please we need to be guided in what we write on this blog!!
Military rule is the WORST thing that happened to us, and most of the ills we suffer today have their roots in those dark days.
In deed do you imagine you would be allowed to write what you are writing on this blog in a military regime.
PLEASE retract that statement lest you sow some small seed in the mind of some impressionable junior officer, and get him unnecessarily killed when his coup plot fails (as it surely will).
Oje is no more than 16 years old.
Thank oga henry,oga tobey For me I lived through the nightmare.Even till today the current adminstration of gej has set aside more money for weapons than the three most useless military rulers combined obj,ibb, and sa.For anyone to even think of military rule is beyond comprehension.How bad were they? The united nations told obj either buy weapos (apcs) for your troops in Sudan or withdraw them. T-Mobile. America’s First Nationwide 4G Network
Military Rule? This is a DEF. Blog..not a a car wash shed where we spin unreasonable possiblities…The same military that ensured a systematic rot in military equipment and professionalism? Most of the equipment the military is fielding now were bought during the Shagari era..infact, almost all of it..Generals Babangida and S. Abacha, out of paranoia, destroyed every fibre that held the military together..The ruined the Nation, institutionalized corruption, and endorsed human rights violation..the 90s were the “dark days”…I was a teenager then, but I remember my mum visiting saw mills for sawdust for domestic cooking!..it was that bad..The military is responsible for the abyss we are finding ourselves in now..more pitiable is the face that most of the so-called politicians today were civilian allies of erstwhile military rulers who needed channels to “invest” their loot..Pls don’t talk about military rule..If a coup happens today, Nigerians will stand up and kick against it..not to talk of sanctions and embargos that we will be slammed with..2015 is less than a year away..Cast your votes and get rid of the macabre dance of an administration..The military will NEVER be accepted in Nigeria again.
Those guys were coup specialist and not military tacticians
Martin Luther, you sound like one with inside information on the Nigerian military. For the sake of my own sanity since things are just getting out of hand (I don’t want to get hypertension), help me answer this question: Do we in all honesty have strategic thinkers and tacticians in any of our 3 military arms? I don’t mean men with bogus ranks on their shoulders and giving themselves whatever rank and position they desire, and make bogus claims. It just beats my imagination that we’ve been playing with an ill organized rag tag group of illiterates and societal rejects for the past 5 years allowing them to grow into a monster that has gained international reputation. And till today, no one can confidently say the Nigerian army is prepared to squash this insurgency, same goes for the airforce. What has consistently saved our face in many if not all of our campaigns is the number of troops we can muster or should I say sacrifice (bcos of our population). Lets forget about numbers now or General this and that, do we in all honesty have military tacticians?
Deway,
Some of the best trained officers in Africa are Nigerian and I beg to say they march the training of their western counterparts
Surprised?
Understood just that i cant stand d way lives are being lost so cheaply. If othets can, i can’t stand it. Some will day pple die in war but certainly not d way we are losing young bright officers and citizens to these rag tag goons. what is actually d problem ?
I agree with oga Martin Luther here, our officers and men are among the best on the continent and can shoulder to shoulder with their colleagues in the west. In the decades of utter neglect, our armed forces didn’t turn into a rag-tag organization thanks to the professionalism of our officers. But when you don’t give the craftsman the necessary tools how do you expect him to perform?
I agree with Obix, it is a surprise that the Nigerian army did not turn into a rag tag army with the level of neglect it suffered when Zaire’s army was picking their unpaid wages from the streets of Kinshasa and Mobutu was carefree in a similar light.
http://www.punchng.com/news/insurgency-senators-grill-service-chiefs-for-eight-hours/
I saw one of the AW 101 VVIP landing at the PAF area aroung 17.30hrs yeaterday. Thats the price of 3 super tucanos off the shelf in weeks. Conversion on this aircraft is easy and best for our counterinsurgency operations. The cost of the 6 Beechcraft Superkings would have given us at least 10-12 Tucanos. This is a major game changer for the ops in the NE…
We have lost hundreds of troops and very fine officers due to lack of air support and we are buying VIP aircraft ? we have 3 Falcon 7X, the A 109 and the presidential helicopter. They can even take the other super puma and convert it to VIP status for their yeye jollof.
No one is even talking about repairing the secong ATR that has been grounded for some time after one of the MI 35 accidently released a round into it. Just use google earth for the yola airport and you would see it grounded.
We are not serious and i weep for my country.We have some of the finest officers who have gone for war college in some of the finest institutions abroad and even topped their class but here we are been run around by some bandits.
Shame dey..
The reason for all this is very simple.IF IT DOESN’T CONCERN THE @)!% ELECTIONS DIRECTLY, IT DOESN’T MATTER. Come June 1st, 2015, it will finally dawn for the ruling gang that they don buy market when them no fit pay for…….. Be they the current Federal looters or the wanna-be opposition looters.
Oga Zachary999 till today, we don’t know why Super Tucano has not appeared for NAF against Boko Haram, instead, NAF is chasing American Scorpion jet that is still undergoing testing and development and begging USA to have mercy and sell to us. Brazilian Super Tucano is battle tested in Latin American COIN combats.
Nigeria will never cease to amaze us! Confusion galore. Like one corrupt Nigerian billionaire usually says…”When the situation is confused, confuse it the more to favour yourself…”
http://lindaikeji.blogspot.com/2014/11/pics-from-internally-displaced-peoples.html#more
I hope this is just propaganda and sensationalism in journalism
The problem with IDP is real. T-Mobile. America’s First Nationwide 4G Network
The bad news with IDPs is that the whole world now knows that Cameroon is handling our refugees ten times better than we are handling our IDPs. Inhuman conditions of living, squalor, not enough supplies and numerous federal agencies tripping over each other and not getting a lot done. The state gov’ts of course are playing the ostrich.
Let them continue to put their heads in the sand. T-Mobile. America’s First Nationwide 4G Network
Oga Are James. I respect your hustle sir.
And how exactly did you come to the conclusion that “the whole world know that Cameroon is handling refugees better than Nigeria?” Was there some study done by AU, or UN that buttresses your insinuation?
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/article4182027.html
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/article4182027.html
Oga Are James. I respect your hustle sir.
Respectfully sir, nowhere in this article does it state the comparison of the state of living of refugees in Nigeria vis-à-vis Cameroon. We understand that the Internally displaced persons are going through a hell of a time, not only have they been forced out of their homes, but their source of livelihood has also seized to exist for the time being. They are required to rely on the generosity of other Nigerians, but please there’s no use comparing the Devil and the deep blue sea, each is equally ravaging, what these humans want, i suppose, is to get their lives back,
Rumours of intense action involving T72 tanks and BMPs. What happened to the Oplots?.Were they never shipped?.
Oplot tanks may be delayed in Ukraine after secret leaked out , alarm blow !
There are conflicting reports about this, There is speculation that we have received T72, T80 AND T84. I cannot confirm at this time , however some reports have been corroborating OGA MARTIN one report taken fro Nairaland has the first account of what happens when a t72 shell hits a hilux with a mounted AAA GUN. I am trying to get confirmation, from a reliable source just like oga henry is trying
For years when I was warning this blog of the doom and gloom to befall Nigeria, and the fact that we weren’t ready in the least bit, who were those bloggers that was calling me a ” Fear Mongerer “.?
I wish some of you would stand up and own up to the positions you took.
See, I had suggested to Beegeagle that we go back in or archives, on selected topics every so often, so we can revisit our analysis, and see how they panned out.
Too bad, he only chose to use the tool selectively.
I was grasping at straws, trying to figure how we can shore up an imploding NA, and folks here thought we could still afford our “fools pride”
I remember telling some past dissenters, the NA assisting it’s way out of this BH death match with foreign or privatized help would be worth the temporary knock to our national ego.
If we calculate the true cost of the mayhem BH would soon be inflicting on our towns, barracks, economy and overall national psyche.
Let the movie play on. We shall yet see.
@General Doziex. Notwithstanding how true your stance on foreign PMC’s might be, WE don’t need foreign mercenaries right now. What we need is the political will to tackle our security challenges. The use of mercenaries, new weapons, new training are just details. If the political elites on both sides of the loot sharing table, refuse to end the problems because it favours them, there’s nothing any foreign assistance and weapons can do.
http://english.cntv.cn/2014/11/27/VIDE1417070884078729.shtml
oga giles, oga xnur
The cybergenerals on this blog thank you for the wonderful during a period of day to day bad news in Nigeria,
OGA GILES perhaps if you see fit and not to steal your thunder since you brought forth this news , please can you transfer the thread concerning NAVAL MATTERS : I think a good choice will be the choice in JULY 2014 piracy Nimasa deploys satellite to track missing ship.
Once again thank you.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/nigeria/11261605/Britain-plans-more-army-trainers-to-help-Nigeria-fight-Boko-Haram.html
I am just a little hesistant to believe this story for one the daily telegraph is just one step above the tabloids and not by much.Personally l do not know what extra they are going to add that has not occurred to the Yanks. This just smacks of a feel good story for themselves and the rubbish about human rights is just to make them feel good.
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Oga jimmy this is what NA needs.
The institution is in dire straits.
NA needs the advisory teams that the UK is offering. For capacity building.
NA is in the same boat as the Iraqis.
I have always advocated for private sector advisory groups, to get around the media and foreign policy hang ups of nations such as the UK and the US.
But as for combat advisory teams, this is a MUST HAVE for NA.
It is an existential issue for Nigeria.
On board NNS Centenary (in chinese) Part 1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slvkU7W01lE
Onboard the NNS Centenary (in chinese) Part 2
So where are the missiles and rockets fired and tested on this same stealth OPV ship during first sea trials of NNS Centenary? Abi all na wash ?
They didn’t show all the weapon systems on the ship. Let’s hope all no be wash 🙂
Top secret warship, NO Nigerian civilian must know about it and its weapon system. Tarpaulin to conceal it from prying civilian eyes, is currently being sewn at Aba.
LOL. We will even ban photographs even though most os the info is on YouTube. It is however your patriotic duty not to ask questions about this ship’s capabilities. This would be your contribution to the Transformation Agenda. Long live Nigeria.
Hehe he, gentlemen, Nigeria’s secrecy has never been about intelligence.
It has always been about covering up gross incompetence and corruption.
Nigerians are now paying the price for not demanding that the veil of deception be lifted.
yes we got T72!!! fact
The T-72 we got looks old and not armed with any ATGM unless a better photo comes in.
OGA DOZIEX
Good morning my brother from another mother, I read your post, and like you ,I started following the NA during the ECOMOG days when family was serving in the NA and my Dad’s brother in stubbornly refused to evacuate to Nigeria despite all the entreaties( my aunties evacuated wetin concern monkey with chimpanzee)?
The Nigerian Army fought on essentially a bare bones budget with the do nothing western world sneering at them in fact Nigerian Soldiers were responsible for rescuing AMERICAN CIVILLIANS out of parts of Liberia alas all that is forgotten now, the important thing is to talk about human rights.
Right now ……… there is confirmed on going partnership at least based on the words of the state dept/ white house which due to having the last word on defense matters have confirmed that there are some American military personnel involved in the book haram palaver…….. also if you look very carefully zoom in to the picture showing the T72B Tank you will see a Caucasian looking man my guess is either ISRAELI or Russian so like Fela said” them dey there too”.
Back to FAMILIAR TERRITORY : S/Leone and Liberia. If this news was carried by the Times of London, the Financial Times, even the SELF HATING INDEPENDENT I would give it more credit the telegraph belongs to those groups of papers who believed the Brits won the war in both Liberia AND S/ Leone hence my hesitations.
What / Should the Brits do?
If they really want to help and your insistence on PMC This is where they can plant a mustard seed , they have helped and had success in the past with the SBS, They can help train/ set up from scratch a specially designated understrength battalion (550) based outside of Lagos drawn from all six divisions and modeled after the SAS.
Their task would be to go in , decimate the enemy, recapture towns over run by bh and then be withdrawn once the regular army has taken over the town .
** Dad’s brother in law.
http://www.punchng.com/news/boko-haram-america-not-nigerias-friend-says-gowon/
Thank you General Gowon, however it takes to two people to tango, Nigeria is not serious about this war and they have treated this 5 year war 2009- and counting with disdain which let America of the hook it is silly to keep blaming America for all our problems just like it is PATHETIC that America will throw food to help us but not give us the real lethal weapons that we need. America shame on you that is why you have had four def sec in six years, Nigeria shame on you that is why this war has gone on for five years and will go on to the sixth year,
Solution: Nigeria please go to other countries that do not sell MADE IN AMERICA WEAPONS AND GET WHAT YOU NEED, AND WHEN THIS WAR IS OVER TELL AMERICA THERE IS NO NEED FOR A BI NATIONAL SECURITY COMMISSION IT IS A WASTE OF TIME,AND PLEASE QUIT THE WHINING.
Thanks oga jimmy, we read your web link, interesting news story from ex-head of state of Nigeria General Dr. Yakubu Gowon.
Okay, General Gowon, I salute you sir.
Now ex-Nigerian leader Gowon said during Biafra war, America refused to sell weapons to Nigeria, so why has Nigerian leaders not learnt their lessons since almost 50 years ago and fully prepare Nigeria for any time of eventual war by heavily arming our military with modern and sophisticated weapons in large numbers during peacetime, why not, or we are not intelligent enough to be proactive as Nigerians?
Again General Gowon said during Biafra war, same America also refused to sell spare parts and ordnance to Nigeria for the then current American weapons in our arsenal purchased before that Civil war broke out, so why is NAF air marshal desperate today 2014 to buy American Scorpion jets now when we know they can sell now and refuse to supply spare parts and ordnance later when we need it?
Why is NAF officially desperate and happy to repeat the same mistake Nigeria made 50 years ago? Why?
Is my beloved country under a curse of perpetual poor decision making forever?
Any oga here with answers? Please talk, I beg of you sirs.
Egypt receives 10 Apaches Helicopters.
http://www.defenceweb.co.za/
Err.. is this not the same Egyptians that raped American journalists during the spring?
My ogas, I’m short of words! Damaturu Under Attack By Boko Haram
http://www.channelstv.com/2014/12/01/damaturu-under-attack-by-boko-haram/
Sometimes when you go through u necessary pain and stress caused by corruption you begin to understand why Nigerian are frustrated and sometimes wet to carry arms. Yesterday I had an emergency that needed to be sorted out with cash, at about 6 PM I took a cab to the Atm which was like 5 minutes away by car, by 9 PM I was still driving around LOOKING FOR AN ATM.when I finally found one it was nearly 10.pm. my cab fare was N5500. I paid N5K5 to withdraw N7000 from my account.
This morning I hot up at about 8:30 to rush to the Bank to send money to my mom. As of this writing it’s 11:29 am, I am in a cab still driving around to look for where to cash money or do an ATM transfer. THERE ARE 14 BANKS IN THIS COUNTRY yet miraculously not a single Bank is paying out cash by ATM. Bank transfer NETWORK PROBLEM and as it my cab fare will probably hover around N5K. How is this related to this blog? Corruption and willful negligence is the bane of this stupid country. My patriotism ends here. Nigeria is the worst country to be born in, our leaders have betrayed us. No light, no water , no infrastructure, Banks are structured to cater for the rich…We couldn’t even fund our military even if our life depended on it. Ghana a nation at pea e just ordered for 12 Super Tucanos, Egypt just received 10 Apache, Angola is spending $13 billion on defence this year and where is the proverbial giant of Africa, Africa A’s richest country? Oh tbats right, our leaders are in an election campaigne squabble. NIGERIA IS A DISGRACE TO THE BLACK RACE,two generations wasted. For those of you still supporting the government, it’s only a matter of time.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA, eyaaaaa, sorry ehn, pele, hehehehehe, all will be well. Omo you really woke up on the wrong side of the bed today uhnn? ATM’s and tins. No point bickering though, we have to make it work, that’s the only way to ensure a better life for our children’s children.
Oga Oje. I respect your hustle sir.
http://www.punchng.com/news/channels-island-to-return-315m-abacha-loot/
Please what is the latest from Damaturu, those anyone of you know?
As usual the first wave has been repulsed with the help of the air-force!
Question is, are our boys busy back slapping and congratulating themselves, or are they preparing and requisitioning for the inevitable second wave with APCs and technicals? Standard Boko operating model, so predictable its boring.
Why we haven’t figured it out or wont mobilize sufficient logistics to counter it i cant understand.
This is the time to beef up the defenses with amour, re-position your GPMGs and HMGs, put the air force on notice for interdiction strikes etc. and pulverize the boko haram second waves a la Konduga.
Bon Chance mes ames!
Pulverise Boko Haram with what? Bullets? Our F-7 have no air to surface weapons, no guided missile, just good ole WW2 style dive bombing.
Old boy calm down now. Abi na the ATM wahalla still dey vex you? Abi wetin we use pulverize them for Konduga?
http://www.tribune.com.ng/news/news-headlines/item/22966-we-ll-continue-to-defend-nigeria-s-territory-with-our-blood-army
GOD’S SPEED.
Latest on Damaturu! Attack by BH repelled……..
http://odili.net/news/source/2014/dec/1/15.html
It’s like the FG has decided to totally ignore the Americans.
US Cancels Military Training with Nigeria at the request of the Nigerian government.
http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/us-cancels-military-training-with-nigeria/195535/
Thats good abeg. Lets know who is with us and who is against us.
Could this be the reason why we havent received the Super Tucanos?
As Secretary of State Hillary Clinton noted in a March 2011 speech before the Center for Strategic and International Studies, when Embraer wins, the United States benefits:
“Take Embraer, the jet manufacturer and one of Brazil’s biggest exporters. The United States accounts for about 65 percent of its sales, but about 70 percent of the parts that it puts into its planes are made in the United States. Now, these economic relations, therefore, are not zero-sum. Ultimately, they do benefit the people of every country involved.”
Again, could this be the reason?
Very possibly the blocking of the tucano deal would be part of the reason for the termination.
Super Tucano should have been purchased by Nigeria before war broke out. America is not responsible for our government’s failure to buy all the best weapons in peacetime. Nigerian leaders were watching nollywood movies while Algeria, South Africa, Uganda etc were buying the best weapons in the world.
If NAF is crippled by America, we can win this war by buying T-90SM tanks and BMP-2M IFVs in hundreds of numbers for Nigerian army. Then we walk through Boko Haram battalions and grind them to powder !
yessir,
NAF can buy readily available su-25s and su-24s like sudan and Iraq, and stop making excuses.
See Finally someone is thinking, this delay by the Military may mean they are building up Arsenal to go continue the War the Arrivals of BMP 2 and T72s plus CAS in Pakistan n expecting some jets leads to the conclusion of that but at what cost? We need Immediate Response plan to hold BH at Bay and Augustine Garrison Strategy is needed ASAP, What is truly worrying is the Almost ZERO silence by the Service Chiefs, Water don dey boil with 1.5 million Nigerians in IDP im very Sure if the Army decides to Mobilize En Masse you would see people ready to defend themserlves because truly Enough is Enough…..Boko Haram IS Nigeria or wateva it calls itself must be Crushed.
Reports Say Nigeria is turning to Russia, with the Recent Simulated Operations and the Special Battalion being trained in Russia, maybe just Maybe we would see the long awaited Offensive, honestly i dn tire but we cant give up hope.
We need more info truly, No one knows how many they are reports say more than 20,000 using Conscripts, iu think we need to Target Logistics….how do u go about that? Boko Haram Vehicles would need fuel depots or suppliers and they have to be within a given area, its left for the NIA to embed people to sniff n Recon Areas most likely to be Smugglers Area n Follow the Trail.
Gbagaunnnn!!!! They can kiss my coffee coloured Nigerian backside. For once somebody has shown backbone. The world is a big market, other traders will be happy to do business with us and take our Nigerian Dollars. FG, time to arm the military; the enemies will try harder now; please arm up big time. And time to be super switched on – super vigilant: these folks don’t take kindly to those who standup to their double standard nonsense. So, be wary. Don’t be surprised if BH bears up with more determination and new hardware/weapons. They have a script that Nigeria will fail in 2015, they will try to make it happen. Please, arm up.
GENTLEMEN
If any of you guys are tech savvy Please go to FACEBOOK and click/ search on the link for ABIYAMO. A word of caution this is not for the squeamish or faint of heart it truly appears based on the PHOTOS The Battle for The capital of Yobe was truly horrific, it does appear too be true that bh suffered horrendous losses, again I cannot verify this but it is beginning to appear this is on the scale of kODUNGA . oga ozed, henry xnur if you have any meaningful updates or info please share, I do not know the pilot of this lone jet but if these pictures are true and there is nothing to say they are not this is sobering,
Seen the pictures, do not know what to make out. But I think these are not the cream of the BH hound though they attack in civilian cloths as seen in their attack videos, they also attack in uniforms. Maybe part of their strategy here was to blend with the hysteric civilian population to make it more difficult for the military to hit them without hitting civilians. I guess that is why the news stated that the military was careful not to hit civilians (maybe). Most of these dead guys are really sick and hungry looking, why? Is it that there is a famine in the caliphate? We are not also seeing weapons hauled, maybe pictures are still coming. Hmmm, I wonder, I just wonder
Super info Oga Jimmy. No new info except that someone on Nairaland who sounds like he is close to the action claims the new BMP 2s were in action this morning during the mopping up.
That would suggest that a fair number were procured. I guess we will know more as the often promised but long awaited major offensive rolls off. Cant wait!!
http://odili.net/news/source/2014/nov/30/501.html
OMG.. we are falling for this trap again? Killing Boko Haram fighters in scores is no victory and certaily not worth celebrating when 25,000 kilometers of Nigeria is currently occupied by a hostile power, victories like this we can do without. Boko Haram can recruit new fighters faster than the Nigerian army can. Our weapons have been degraded due to attrition, they keep their best fighters for attacks on strategic targets. This bitter war of attrition will favours them not us, what we need is a massive troop surge. Enter A-stan when the Taliban was gaining grounds and was making use of its numerical advantage, what the the Americans do? they sent an additional 200.000 soldiers directly into the frontline and…………………………the rest is history. Let me outline some facts based on my own opinion o (Peccavi,Augustine and Oga James)
1. We cannot win this war with Russian weapons. Russian jets are good for acrobatics (Cobra Maneuver) and ballet dancing in the air, aside that they are basically not reliable. Russian helicopters are too large and noisy yet does not compensate for this with better avionics, weve lost 3 pilots because of this. That crappy ”Shikkar” has a history of breaking down more often than not. we assume its sabotage, its not..its made in Russia..and in the 70’s.
2.We cannot win this war buying Chinese weapons, they buy Russian weapons, the ones they cant buy they steal from the West, why should we use their weapons if they themselves dont use it..
3. To win this war we need Western armament, the Americans wont sell us the Cobra because they know the war will be over in a week if they do. that beast is brutally efficient, if you think im lying go see a documentary. Nigeria’s ambasaddor to the U.S was not exaggerating when he said the acquisition of these weapons would have been the end of terror in Nigeria. The Cobra can attack with pin point accuracy convoys and infantry unit from as far away as 500 miles. They come with a compliment of Hellfire missiles,unguided rockets and sabre round munitions. When Russia invaded A-stan the majority of their helicopters were shot down, so bad it was they had to save face and withdrew its troops, with the loss of 28,000 soldiers it was Russias biggest defeat since WW2 In A-STAN U.S. Marines were always strained and overstretch because of the unforgiving terrain, it is their helicopters that make the difference, so notoriously efficient they were they called them ”Spitfires”. We need to give our current fleet of helicopter gunships to the Army, creating an army air arm while we shop for South African, Turkish, of even Swedish Gripen. Sweden is a non NATO member and its arms sales are not subject to American approval.
3.. Oil prices are at an all time low and very soon we will start feeling the crunch, if in an era of plenty we cannot properly fund out fighting force i fear what will happen to our armed forces if our economy begins to dip.
Lastly.We need to stop all Drone flights into Nigerian territory. The Reaper is armed with Hell Fire missiles, they can take out terrorists from 50,000 ft but they dont, what exactly is the function of night drone flights if not to relay coordinates and troop movement to France who in turn relay it to Chad who in turn relay this info to Boko Haram Commanders, when they do this they know the exact number of troops to deploy to overwhelm Nigerian soldiers on the ground through sheer mass. We need a proactive strategy to curtail Boko finances, Chad and Cameroon need to see that the Nigeria is dead serious about them meddling in our affairs trying to direct the outcome of the war to their advantage. Time is fast running out.
Bros Oje, am waiting for you to get to the point.
Since according to you russian and chinese equipment is 100% crap, and the only way is to buy western equipment.
But you have also agreed that the west refuse to sell us their stuff. What do you say we should do? Continue to prostrate and beg the US? or just surrender the rest of the Country to Boko haram to save them time?
Gen Oje, please stop watching 90’s american action films, they always over hype their weapons (e.g. cobra gunships that can precision strike 500 miles away) and down grade Russian systems ( if the taliban had about 2,000 stingers / strelas / star streaks, they would also swatted majority of the american helis from the air).
Mean while link from Janes defence weekly:
http://www.janes.com/article/46579/ideas-2014-nigeria-close-to-signing-up-for-jf-17?
They say negotiations are done for Nigeria to get 20-40 units of the aircraft from the Pakis.
Source is Paki top brass.
Fingers crossed. Hope deliveries dont start in 2019.
My ogas on top it appears one of our profound wishes on this blog has come true
*The NIGERIAN ARMY has come out and siad they have made mistakes in not carrying the public along with them it also appears they seem to understand the groundswell of public opinion is truly on their side, judging from what is happening the last couple of days it could be a game changer
There are more gruesome pictures and no they are not all hungry looking Remember CAUTION is necessary not for the Squeamish,
http://on.fb.me/1viNjRJ
I believe you said it all OGA OZED. I also believe this time it is real we have bought not just the JF17 but most likely some kind of platform ( AIRCRAFT JET SU27/ 30) from the Russians.
If you read what i wrote you will see where i outlined options where American influence might be limited or non existent. Sweden and Italy comes to mind. Down south there is the Rooviak which can hold its own against any helicopter in the world.
Most other choppers invariably have some American technology in them. We have burnt our bridges with S.Africa and now the US so all that is neither here nor there. These is the unproven MI 28N which might just be equivalent to the Cobra. Our needs for Boko Haram are rather mild (this is not an external deployment and the distances are short) so we are looking at average flying times of 8 hours per week per chopper which should be piece of cake for both the MI 35M which contract has been signed and the MI28N we are suggesting here whatever the anticipated shortcomings of Russian products are.
The $60 per barrel oil price scenario is upon us. We are going to need to rearm in waves.
Three waves of procurement are required for us to ‘re arm for killing Boko Haram dead, closing gaps to be identified after we conclude the on going defence policy review and finally for sustainability rearmament going forwards to 2020.
We have to be serious about defence and security being first line charges on the annual budget. If the fuel subsidy is further removed, defence should be the first priority. There are spin off positive effects on the economy when you rearm and technology acquisition affects local industry as well.
1. Emergency Counterinsurgency Procurement
– 8 nos.Alpha Jets or SU 25s Upgraded with night fighting and precision weapon delivery l.
– Mix of Upgraded MB 339s / Upgraded L 39za (1 squadron)
– 40 pcs T 72 Tanks (second hand)
– 80 BMP 2/3 APCs ( mix of second hand and new)
– 300 AGLs with ammo.
– 100 pcs Super Accurate field mortars
– 20 battlefield UAVs.
– 8 nos MI 35Ms with night vision (brand new)
2. New Defence Policy Gap Closure Requirements Rearmament Project
– 6 pieces SU 33 Multi role combat jets
-10 batteries MLRS 9A52-4 Tornado
– 12 nos JF 17 Block 2 multi role combat aircraft with glide bombs and ground attack missiles
– 32 nos MI 35 Ms
– 200 T 90 Tanks
– 400 BMP 3 IFV
– 6 batteries Akash SAM’s covering 6 strategic defence districts within the country.
3. Long Term Sustainability Rearmament / Capability Development Project as per new Defence Policy (2017 – 2020)
– 24nos SU 34s with Long range AA missiles and PGMs.
– 20 SAM batteries covering remainder Air Defence districts
– 300 T 90 tanks
– 40 pcs MLRS 9A52-4 Tornado
– 12 nos MALE UAVs.
– Electronic Warfare Centre
– Cyber warfare centre.
– Air craft propulsion engineering laboratory
– Aircraft design bureau
– Avionics technology development centre.
Most of 1 (Emergency Procurement) apart from the UAV’s have been acquired. The biggest issue now is reliability. A lot of old stuff have come in as new and breakdowns are frequent. You also have to almost triple the number of the tanks and IFV considering the size and scale of the theatre.
2 of the “new” Mi-24 helicopters were the ones that crashed unfortunately. The MB-339 and L-39 have completed extended life upgrades but lack weapon systems. The Israeli’s have offered a package (Griffin) but it is very expensive. We need to negotiate and acquire this systems immediately. A lot of our pilots and engineers have currency and have significant proficiency on both platforms.
The Aerostar drones in Benin need to be reactivated quickly and deployed in the NE. The missing components like the automatic takeoff and landing system should be acquired. It is just an add on. ISR is an issue that needs to be improved as one ATR is not enough and loiter time for the ATR is poor.
I hope they do probe into our aircraft accidents? Bar enemy fire, it may be narrowed down to incidences of mechanical and or pilot error. The former if found could cut crashes on other same unit types. Pilot error can be easily ameliorated.
Not good about all these breakdowns, I say they should seek their suppliers to give expat mechanics for a period of time to give advice and guidance on repairs.
The new problem with finding ground attack weaponry for this class of aircraft (trainer jets with secondary ground attack capability) is that the latest political happenings may have scuttled any attempts to acquire precision guidance gear for the rockets and bombs they can launch.. MB 339s and L 39ZAs are just advanced trainers that don’t even carry radars and most offensive weapons for them are available as retrofits. Even though the aircraft upgrades come with some decent front looking infrared targeting pods, almost all ground attack rockets/missiles available for these aircraft are American products or products of companies with American appendages like Matra, Alenia et.c
Anyone Seen this ?
http://www.janes.com/article/46579/ideas-2014-nigeria-close-to-signing-up-for-jf-17
The Nigerian Air Force (NAF) is close to finalising an order for the purchase of one or two squadrons of the JF-17 Thunder fighter aircraft co-produced by Pakistan and China, a senior Pakistani Ministry of Defence official told IHS Jane’s on 2 December.
Speaking at the International Defence Exhibition and Seminar (IDEAS) 2014 in Karachi, the official said the NAF finalised its recommendation for the purchase of 25-40 JF-17s after NAF chief air marshal Adesola Nunayon Amosu visited Pakistan in October. AM Amosu’s engagements in Pakistan included a visit to the Pakistan Aeronautical Complex (PAC) at Kamra, north of Islamabad, where the JF-17 is manufactured.
We already discussed this. If there is no money to cash-back this order we better go to the Chinese for a long term loan. I am not sure how low this aircraft can fly to attack BH but on paper, it has very good precision weapon delivery capability and is also a capable fighter jet. Very thorough, pilot and engineer training will solve most of the induction reliability issues and prevent embarrassing crashes.
The same that month we get these jets, Chad and Cameroon will begin to clear out Boko Haram bases from their territory unilaterally, such is the fear of humiliating air strikes from Nigeria that they will act really fast. They are ever watching.
I actually believe they will buy both the JF-17 and the Scorpion
As always. I go believe until I hear say xx number of units are on Nigerian soil. If 1 or 2 squadrons then that’ll be the end of other fighter jets?
I think it’s time to move to a new thread also…
Premium times: December 3, 2014 Aliyu U. Tilde
EXCLUSIVE: Inside Nigerian military’s renewed offensive against Boko Haram; terrorists now on the run
December 3, 2014Aliyu U. Tilde
Boko Haram’s weapon destroyed by the military
Boko Haram’s weapon destroyed by the military
An apparently better equipped Nigerian military has revved up its battle against the extremist Boko Haram sect, displacing the insurgents from key Adamawa and Borno towns they overran and seized in the past months, a PREMIUM TIMES journalist travelling in the area is reporting.
In what appears a renewed bid to overwhelm the terrorists, the military, assisted by local vigilantes, known as Civilian-JTF, has cleared most of the towns ravaged by insurgent activities, our correspondent says.
Another Boko Haram weapon destroyed by the Nigerian militaryAnother Boko Haram weapon destroyed by the Nigerian military
The Nigerian military has drawn stinging criticism over its handling of the war against Boko Haram, an extremist militia that started in 2009 by killing or abducting security agents and civilians, while also attacking schools, markets and places of worship.
The group began seizing territories in parts of Borno and Adamawa States in 2014, a year that has seen Boko Haram’s most horrendous assaults.
More than 3,000 people are believed killed by the sect this year alone.
As town after town fell to Boko Haram, which busied itself shooting, bombing and raiding communities, and slitting the throats of defenceless residents, Nigerian troops came under severe local and international ridicule for failing to neutralise often predictable attacks by the militants.
Konduga 5
In recent months, soldiers have openly abandoned their posts as Boko Haram fighters arrived, fleeing militants they admitted were better armed and motivated, and surrendering even additional weapons to them.
American official said in June that the situation became so terrible that Nigerian troops feared to engage the terrorists.
But things now appear to be looking up for the military, our correspondent says, as he travels around towns seized by Boko Haram, but which have now been liberated by the military.
“The military appears to be better equipped and motivated, and appears to have upped its war games,” reporter Aliyu Tilde, usually critical of the military’s response to Boko Haram, said in despatches to the newsroom Monday.
The road to Hong still deserted after Boko Haram insurgents were dislodged by the militaryThe road to Hong still deserted after Boko Haram insurgents were dislodged by the military
PREMIUM TIMES is the first news organization to access the heavily-guarded areas of Adamawa and Borno States, currently under military operations.
“Gaskiya (truth be said) Nigerian military is doing a very very fine job here. They have cleared Gombi, Hong, Mararraba, Mubi and the entire route of Boko Haram,” Mr. Tilde said.
“They are now at Uba slugging it out. Vehicles aren’t allowed beyond Gombi. People trek to Hong. The road is quiet. Clearing of hazardous materials like IEDs going on along Mararraba-Mubi Road before the road is open to users.
“Gombi-Garkida road is also cleared. It is safe. Saw many vehicles plying the road. Clearing of Garkida-Biu road may start soon,” he said.
“The military is now better equipped and more confident. Its newly acquired T72 tank is devastating. Boko Haram bombed it using suicide bombers with a pickup packed with explosives but to no avail. Only scratches. And the beast moved on.
Communities are still riddled with bullets and IEDs. The military is doing a lot of cleaning upCommunities are still riddled with bullets and IEDs. The military is doing a lot of cleaning up
“If the military is able to keep the tempo, many more places will be liberated,” Mr. Tilde said.
On Tuesday, the reporter continued his journey, talking to residents of liberated towns, soldiers, and vigilantes.
In a dispatch on Tuesday night, he wrote, “Gombi is quiet, half-empty, on curfew today, in the full control of Nigerian armed, police, custom, immigration forces. A camp of vigilantes can also been seen just before the junction to Mubi.
“I trekked from Muchalla to Gombi, seen burnt cars, motorcycles and buses of Boko Haram when their advance was checked by the military 10 days ago.
“Their last advance was stopped at Muchalla. So many bullet shells, small and big, on the road plus signs of shelling of trees, houses, etc. Night curfew started just now at 6pm.
“Many residents have returned although the road from Girei to this point has been nearly empty.
“Lassa and Dile exhibited the best use of self-defence doctrine. Unlike other towns that fled on hearing the sound of Boko Haram gunfire, the youths stood their ground and slugged it out with the Boko Haram chaps. Within 30 minutes they cleared them although few were able to escape.
Konduga 7
“Boko Haram is becoming demystified gradually, it seems.
“There seems to be some change in the composition of the soldiers here. Most of them are 30 and above, truly professionals. The incident of begging for tips from motorists has also reduced drastically.
“We just hope they have made adequate safety arrangements for keeping the liberated towns safe.”
The military is now better equipped and more confident. Its newly acquired T72 tank is devastating. Boko Haram bombed it using suicide bombers with a pickup packed with explosives but to no avail. Only scratches. And the beast moved on.
Hahahahahahahahaha….. LWKMD,
Oga rugged7. I respect your hustle sir.
Sweet music to my ears. Can you imagine the bas—-s as the T72 advanced on them or let loose with a shell. Oh boy. Keep up the good work NA!
So we have the point made that Nigerians, even the harshest critics just want their army fully equipped and motivated. The writer of this article has been called Boko sympathiser many times due to his many criticisms of govt but now he is praising the now better equipped NA in such suerlative terms.. Let this be testament to the high standards we expect.
On point Are James.
Great stuff.
But who’s in charge of that Konduga unit because waves after waves have tried to no avail. I think the other commanders should start learning from his handbook.
They repealed another attack today.
Good news. Champagne should still remain on ice. Watch the borders
Nairaland states that Damaturu may be under attack again
http://www.nairaland.com/2027385/breaking-multiple-suicide-bombing-yobe
http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/boko-haram-in-fresh-attack-on-damaturu/195706/
http://allafrica.com/stories/201412030190.html
Kodunga part 7
Nigerian army T-72B tank does not need to shoot Boko Haram 23mm Cannon Toyotas, just ram it like Ileya Sallah ram, and drive over it the way I iron my shirt and trouser. Finished.
Boy you do have an imagination…………..Personally I like the idea of a boko haram taking a direct hit from a tank shell,whether from the front or the side obliterating both gunner and driver as they are being blasted to hell wondering what hit them.
Two squadrons of JF-17’s as fighter bombers and a Squadron of air superiority Su27’s is just about what we need to tell Chad and Cameroon to stay out of our internal affairs. We can keep the F-7’s for their primary role of vectored interception, and the alpha’s as attack/bombers until they expire. If either of Chad/Cameroon immediately update their air-force, consider them suspect.
On loses,for every helicopter we lose we should replace it with two to demoralise the enemy.
Also, the ATR should be reactivated and flying to maintain morale.
NAF asking for 40 units JF-17 Thunder is either the Nigerian mentality of ask for double what you need because the FG will stil cut down your request, or the likely mentality of NIgeria may be preparing for a show down with Chad and Cameroon in the near future.
I still hope NAF gets the 6 units Su-30 Flankers from Belarus for a total cost so cheap at $120 million.
Our weak F-7 jets, NAF should sell to others, maybe Ghana, Mali, South Sudan, Congo DRC, Zimbabwe, offer them with incentive of training and tech assistance, etc.
My ogas, we should be talking about :
1. What date the JF-17 jets will arrive Abuja or NAF TAC Makurdi
2. When will our pilots will be fully trained to fly them
3.What equipment and weapons will they be armed with…BVR missiles, Guided Bombs, Anti-ship missiles, Air to surface missiles, Anti-tank missiles, Anti-radiation missiles, Targeting pods, Reconnaissance pods, EW and ECM jamming pods, etc.
4. An air to air refueling tanker.
Gentlemen
I believe this thread has gotten long enough and we should transfer our comments to the July 2014 thread of Terrorism: President Jonathan approves additional funds for huge acquisitions of Military hardware.
I concur
I further concur. Moving right now.
http://www.army.mod.uk/equipment/23216.aspx
Let us move to July 20 thread. I posted this just to add one to the number 666 post and Keep us from terminating this thread on that terrible number. I am superstitious that way, sorry.